Chemical Weapons Working Group
P.O. Box 467; Berea, KY 40403
606-986-7565 or 606-986-0868 www.cwwg.org

for further information:
Gregory Ferguson (501) 374-3535
Evelyn Yates (870) 247-9484
Sheila Witherington (501) 664-3136
Joe Steward (870)247-1975
Craig Williams (606) 986-7565

for immediate release, Monday, July 13, 1998

CITIZENS GROUPS SUBMIT PETITION TO EXTEND COMMENT PERIOD ON
CHEMICAL WEAPONS INCINERATOR PERMIT
Arkansas PC&E took 11 years to review permit, and gave citizens less than 3
months to submit comments. Citizens ask for adequate opportunity to comment.

Citizen organizations and individuals throughout Arkansas have submitted a
petition to Governor Huckabee and the Arkansas Department of Pollution
Control and Ecology (PC&E) requesting an extension of the public comment on
the Draft Permit for a chemical weapons incinerator at the Pine Bluff Arsenal.
The draft permit, issued by PC&E on June 29, could lead to a permit for the
construction of an incinerator to burn the 3,850 tons of chemical warfare
agents and hundreds of thousands of tons of explosives and other related
components currently stored at the Arsenal.

In releasing the draft permit, PC&E granted a 70-day public comment period.
However, citizen groups closely watching the chemical weapons disposal issue
have requested a year in which to provide comments, arguing that Arkansas, in
the state's history, has never considered such a complex permit.

"The PC&E has been reviewing this permit for more than 10 years," said
Evelyn Yates, the director of Pine Bluff for Safe Disposal. "To give citizens less than
three months to review it and submit comments is simply not fair."

The citizens' petition, signed by six attorneys, three private citizens and eleven
Arkansas organizations, including four veterans groups, states that because
the draft incinerator permit is the most costly, complex and technical ever
reviewed by the PC&E, it should be given the longest comment period of any
draft permit issued by the State. To bolster the argument for a longer comment
period, the petition also cites the Federal Resource Conservation and Recovery
Act (RCRA) guidance on public participation. RCRA guidance calls for
"expanded public participation in permitting" thereby "providing the public
with an expanded role in the permit process."

Arkansas Attorney Gregory Ferguson, who filed the petition, said, "If there was
ever a case where the public should be granted a significant extension to review
a permit, this is it!" Ferguson also noted that when a similar petition was
submitted in Oregon, their Governor granted a six month extension to the
original 60-day comment period. "The Arkansas situation is even more
complex than Oregon's." said Ferguson. "83% of the Arsenal's chemical
weapons stockpile consists of the same material as the Maryland stockpile,
which will be destroyed by non-incineration methods. The fact that other non-
incineration technologies are currently being tested, and could be applicable to
chemical weapons in Pine Bluff, means we deserve a longer, more complete
comment period."

The Maryland stockpile contains only Mustard agents in ton containers which
will be destroyed by neutralization and biological treatments. Arkansas citizens
have asked that similar non-incineration disposal technologies be available for
the similar portion of Pine Bluff's chemical weapon stockpile.

The Pine Bluff Chapter of the Disabled American Veterans (DAV) is one of the
veteran's groups that signed the petition. DAV member Joe Steward said, "This
is a common sense issue. If the agency has had eleven years to review this
information, and only allows the citizens of Arkansas 70 days to look at it then
then they either are in an awful hurry or don't want the permit carefully
reviewed. Either way, it's not unreasonable for us to request a year to do our
job. We hope the Governor and the PC&E will honor our request."

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