CITIZENS GROUPS PRESS ARMY FOR
OPERATIONAL INFORMATION ON ALABAMA CHEMICAL WEAPONS INCINERATOR
After having waited for a response
for over a year and a half, today Alabama residents, joined by more than 50
organizations, sent a second request to the Army's Chemical Materials Agency
(CMA) for information on Alabama's chemical weapons incinerator. The letter
points out that none of the information requested in the original August
2004 letter has been provided nor was an official response ever received.
Like the first letter, this second request to CMA,
the office in charge of chemical weapons disposal nationwide, asks that Alabama
citizens be provided with precise and timely information surrounding operations
at the Anniston incinerator on a regular basis. Such information would include
data on: how many hours the facility was operational per week; what problems
were experienced; and how well the facility complied with environmental permit
regulations.
Although CMA does post on its website brief weekly
updates focused on the numbers of munitions burned to date, the letter complains
that these updates provide little meaningful information; rather, they are
"little more than rhetoric extolling the virtues of the incineration technology."
The citizens note that instead of CMA's weekly praise of incineration, they
want to see substantive data that is "vital to their health and well-being
and that of their children and the environment."
David Christian, an Anniston resident representing
Serving Alabama's Future Environment and who signed both letters, said about
their request, "It is appropriate and necessary for us to seek this kind of
information." For example, the request includes providing the public with
the number and location of agent alarms recorded during any 24-hour period.
Rufus Kinney of Families Concerned said, "Here in
Alabama we really have no objective citizens' board that represents the best
interests of all residents regarding the weapons destruction process. The
Alabama Citizens Advisory Commission (CAC) on chemical weapons disposal was
long ago purged of anyone opposed to burning the weapons. The CAC never questions
anything the Army or its contractor does, so we have to get the information
on our own."
In concluding their letter, the citizens ask CMA Director
Mike Parker to respond to their request and the enclosed public information
checklist within 15 days after receipt of the letter.
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Copies of the CMA letter are available upon request or at <www.cwwg.org>.
