for more information:
Craig Williams: (859) 986-7565
or (859) 302-1103
for immediate release: Tuesday, September 10, 2002
"Justice = Safe Disposal. No Incineration!" read the banner carried in a march in Anniston, Alabama today as hundreds of citizens and justice leaders from all over the country demanded safe alternatives to chemical weapons incineration in Anniston, Alabama. Citing the high levels of PCBs, lead and mercury contamination already existent in the Anniston community, the groups called the Army's incineration plans a gross injustice, and pledged to continue action against the incinerator until safer weapons disposal methods are used.
Participants in the National Action for Safe Chemical Weapons Disposal and Environmental Justice, organized by the Chemical Weapons Working Group (CWWG) coalition, included numerous representatives of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC); United Church of Christ Justice and Peace Action Network; the Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives; Sierra Club; Alabama Environmental Council; and scores of state, regional and national groups focused on military waste clean-up, environmental justice and government accountability.
At a press conference before the march and rally, Martin Luther King III, President of the SCLC said "The SCLC adamantly opposes the intent to burn lethal chemical weapons in Anniston, Alabama...it is the pledge of the SCLC to prevent this from taking place and to urge elected officials and the U.S. government to adopt other existing, safer technologies that can destroy the chemical weapon without further destroying public health."
CWWG Director Craig Williams described the Army's incineration program as a failure, citing the following status report:
Not only does the Army violate environmental justice principles by operating an incinerator in Anniston, but its plans to ship hazardous wastes from the incinerator to be burned or landfilled in disenfranchised communities of color in East St. Louis, Illinois, Port Arthur, Texas and Emelle, Alabama further perpetuates the cycle of environmental racism.
The Chemical Weapons Working Group has for ten years advocated non-incineration technologies as a safer, faster method for weapons destruction. Three other chemical weapons sites -- Maryland, Indiana and Colorado -- have already rejected incineration and instead embraced safer alternatives proven effective by the Department of Defense's Assembled Chemical Weapons Assessment (ACWA) program.
Advantages of these technologies include low-temperature, low-pressure treatment of chemical agent; containment of chemical agent in a manner that avoids uncontrolled releases into the environment; and safer working conditions. Replacing incineration components with neutralization-based alternatives would serve to protect public health and satisfy principles of environmental justice.
Despite this, the Army remains insistent on moving ahead with incineration in Anniston and elsewhere, even proposing modifications to the facility that the Army admits would increase the risks to the public. For example, the infamous "chop & drop" plan would entail chopping up agent-filled rockets and burning all components together in one furnace. The National Research Council and the Army itself maintained for years that weapon components needed to be treated separately. Some modifications are being proposed in order to speed up weapons disposal. Nationally, the chemical weapons program is more than 15 years behind schedule.
Brenda Mugleston, an eight year veteran worker at the Tooele,
Utah incinerator, says that kind of proposal is too risky for
workers and the public. Mugleston delivered a clear message to
Alabamians on worker safety issues at the Army's chemical weapon
facility there. Mugleston, a whistleblower at the Utah facility,
blames worker risks on the Army and its contractors' prioritization
of schedule over worker safety. "I came to speak in Anniston
today in hopes that history will not repeat itself; so that workers
in Anniston will not be exposed to the same unsafe practices and
exposures to chemical warfare agents that workers have to deal
with at the Utah incinerator."
Brenda Lindell, of the Anniston group Families Concerned About
Nerve Gas Incineration demanded immediate action from Alabama's
legislators. "Senators Shelby and Sessions, Representative
Riley and Governor Siegelman: you can make a difference in the
lives of the people you swore to serve and protect. Our health
and our lives are at stake."
Reverend Pamela Cheney, of the United Church of Christ (UCC) Justice and Peace Action Network, pledged along with others that the UCC would continue to push for a safe technology in Anniston. Born in Anniston, Cheney's family still lives in the area and she is concerned for their safety. "The health situation in this area is not nice, its not pretty," said Cheney. "The UCC will continue to work on this issue until we have justice in this community."
Civil rights icon Reverend Fred Shuttlesworth said, "Right now we are dying together from toxics in the environment. We need to live together and work toward a solution." Shuttlesworth, now 80 years old, vowed to return to Alabama to bring justice in the chemical weapons program in the same way he did in the 1950s and 1960s working on desegregation. Noting that in those years he was arrested more times than he could count, Shuttlesworth said, "I haven't been in jail for a long time. I would be glad to spend some time in the Anniston jail."
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