for more information:
Elizabeth Crowe (859) 986-0868
for immediate release: July 14, 2003
14 June 2003 -- More than 200 groups from 62 countries today took action against waste incineration to serve notice to their governments that time is running out on the controversial technology.
The combined and simultaneous protest actions around the world mark the observance of the 2nd Global Day of Action against Waste Incineration, by far the most massive demonstration of public opposition to incinerators on a global scale. Spearheaded by the Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives (GAIA), the yearly anti-incineration day of action intends to highlight the problems with incineration and promote safe and sustainable alternatives.
"No other single technology has stirred up such inflamed defiance from citizens and communities the world over. Governments around the world should pay heed and start implementing safe alternatives to incineration," said GAIA Coordinator Ann Leonard.
The Chemical Weapons Working Group (CWWG), a grassroots coalition of communities working for safe alternatives to incineration of lethal chemical weapons in the U.S., is a founding member of GAIA. As part of today's actions, the CWWG released the report "Waste Incineration: A Dying Technology," to bolster its argument to the U.S. Army and elected officials to abandon incineration in favor of technologies which can destroy chemical weapons without destroying public health.
"Considering the dismal performance of the Army chemical weapons incinerator in Utah and the proven effectiveness of safer non-incineration technologies, the U.S. government is certainly helping dig the grave for the incineration technology," said CWWG organizer Elizabeth Crowe. "However, the Army is still refusing to consider using those safer technologies at four of the chemical weapons stockpile sites. This is environmental injustice and hypocrisy at its worst."
Public opposition has killed many proposed and existing incinerators worldwide. Citizen demands for safer solutions to incineration won the use of neutralization methods for destruction of chemical weapons in Maryland, Indiana, Kentucky and Colorado. Those technologies can contain toxic by-products and prevent uncontrolled releases of chemical agent into the environment. On the other hand, the Army's weapons incinerator in Utah has had numerous releases of chemical agent into the environment and within the facility where workers were not adequately protected. The Army next wants to burn wepaons in Alabama, Oregon and Arkansas.
Rufus Kinney of the Anniston, Alabama group Families Concerned About Nerve Gas Incineration pledges a continued push for safe disposal of chemical weapons in Alabama, even as the State of Alabama are poised to allow the Anniston incinerator to start up soon. "We join people all over the world today struggling to protect their families from incinerator emissions, Kinney said. "Our communities deserve that protection and we here in Alabama intend to fight till we get it."
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