LOW PUBLIC INTEREST SHOWN AS INCINERATION NEARS

By Amy Riggin/OF THE COMMERCIAL STAFF

WHITE HALL -- With incineration of chemical weapons set to begin next week at the Pine Bluff Arsenal, a public information session Wednesday was sparsely attended.

Officials from the Arsenal, the state Department of Health and the Department of Environmental Quality accounted for the majority of the crowd at the Outreach Office for Chemical Disposal at White Hall.

About 10 people from the general public showed up to the 2-hour session to ask questions about the incineration process.

Randy Long, site project manager for the disposal facility, characterized Wednesday's session as "just a final step" to address public concerns.

Most, such as Douglas Quarles of White Hall, had concerns about emergency preparedness, or what would happen in the event of a chemical accident at the Arsenal.

"I just want to find out mainly how much time there'll be to evacuate," he said.

Quarles, who lives about a mile and a half from the Arsenal's Plainview Gate, also said he has trouble hearing the sirens that are installed in areas surrounding the Arsenal to alert residents of an accident. He is worried that his family won't receive notification of an emergency in time to evacuate.

"If I'm inside my house, I can't hear (the siren)," he said.

Quarles said he doesn't think most people are aware of how dangerous the nerve agents at the Arsenal are, but said, "(Incineration) may go off without a hitch, which I hope and pray it does."

Brandy Hubanks of White Hall is worried about getting children in schools to safety.

"I was just wondering why the schools haven't practiced putting the kids on buses and taking them to evacuation centers," she said.

Hubanks has a 7-year-old at Taylor Elementary School and said she's "just afraid they won't make it in time."

Dorothye Billingsley lives about a half a mile from where the weapons are stored.

"The closer we get to the actual project starting, the more questions I have," she said.

One of those was the same as Quarles': How long will an evacuation take?

"There was really no direct answer because there are so many variables, such as how severe the incident is," she said.

But as she was leaving, Billingsley said she did feel better about the project.

"These people work there on site, which says something to me, that they feel comfortable enough to be working there and they are confident that it's safe," she said.

Others had questions about the environmental effects incineration would have on the surrounding community.

Derick Warrick, engineering supervisor for ADEQ's hazardous waste division, said his office will be responsible for monitoring operations at the facility from start to finish. If any permitting regulations are violated, he said the office would investigate them and the public would be notified of any enforcement actions. He added that all of the information ADEQ receives from the facility is a matter of public record, including information about emissions released from the incinerator.

"We're going to have an inspector on site on a 40-hour-a-week basis at the demilitarization facility," he said, adding that his office will monitor activities at the control room through remote access.

Susan Kahler, director of the Outreach Office, said the session provided access to experts involved in every aspect of the project.

"It's a really hard project to wrap your mind around. People are scared of it and sometimes are not very well-informed of it," she said. "We want them to feel confident that if they have concerns they'll be answered."

While the majority of those seemed to be satisfied with the answers they got, one local couple, who declined to give their names, were quite vocal about their lack of confidence and the public's lack of knowledge about the project.

The couple left without hearing a full response from Lt. Col. Jim Bahya, commander of the Pine Bluff Chemical Activity.

"In almost two years that I've been here, that was probably the most hostile fellow I've run into," he said. "You can try and talk to them, but it doesn't work for everybody."

On Monday and Tuesday, the Outreach Office will be open until 7 p.m., two hours later than normal, to answer any additional questions from the public.

Long noted that, even though the first two sarin-filled rockets are due to be transported to the facility Monday, bad weather could delay the transport. Bahya said weapons won't be transported during heavy thunderstorms, lightning or high wind conditions.

If all goes as planned, however, the first two rockets will be incinerated Tuesday.

It is expected to take five years to dispose of the nation's second largest stockpile at the Arsenal -- 12 percent of the country's total inventory -- which includes sarin and VX rockets, VX land mines and mustard agent ton containers.