Sierra Club Currents
April 10, 2002

Sierra Club Wins Battle to Stop Weapons Incineration: Army to Implement Safer Disposal Method

In the late 1980s, when Sierra Club volunteer Ross Vincent first challenged the Pentagon's plan to incinerate 2,600 tons of mustard gas being stored at the Pueblo Chemical Weapons Depot in Colorado, he was a lone voice. This March, the Army announced that it will *not* incinerate the mustard gas, but will instead use a safer, cleaner method that uses warm water and bacteria.

And Vincent is no longer a lone voice. Thanks to Vincent's persistence, incineration was opposed in the end by a formidable coalition of labor unions, community groups, the Catholic Diocese, the county commissioners, the state Senate, the governor, and U.S. Sen. Wayne Allard (R-CO). The groundswell of support is a good example, said Rocky Mountain Chapter director Susan LeFever, "of politicians seeing a parade and rushing to the front to 'lead it.'" It's also a reminder, she said, that meaningful victories take time. "If we take care of ourselves and each other, we can stick with this for the long haul and win."

Called "water neutralization followed by biodegradation," or the "bug method" for short, this alternative uses water and microbes to help break down hazardous chemicals and is much safer than incineration. In the early 1980s, Congress authorized new chemical weapons, and gave the go-ahead to incinerate existing stockpiles at Pueblo and eight other sites.

The Sierra Club supported the destruction of the weapons, but pushed for alternative methods of disposal. Incineration of these highly toxic chemicals, said Vincent, could endanger human health and damage crops and livestock. The bug method had been used for other chemical weapons, but the Army resisted nonetheless. "The Army didn't want to be told what to do," said Vincent.

Vincent credited the Kentucky-based Chemical Weapons Working Group with getting Congress to halt incineration. He says of the victory: "We didn't just fight city hall, we fought the Pentagon. If small communities working together can move giant bureaucracies, just about anything is possible."

The news bodes well for several other communities fighting chemical weapons incinerators, like those near the Blue Grass Army Depot in Kentucky. Still, there's much to be done: new incinerators have been built in Utah and the Pacific; a plant in Alabama is beginning preliminary test burns; and two more incinerators are under construction. But, as Vincent points out, the victory has changed things. "Incinerator salesmen can no longer argue that incineration is the best available technology. There's a better way."

The local coalition that Vincent helped pull together is now incorporated as Better Pueblo. In addition to weapons disposal, it's working on other issues such as air pollution from a nearby steel mill and a proposed limestone strip mine to be run by Grupo Cementos de Chihuahua, one of Mexico's largest cement companies. "What makes our group durable is that we can survive disagreement. Once people sat down and talked to each other, showed they were willing to listen and be respectful, we found out we liked each other. It's not magic, it's personal relationships." "Winning is hard work," he added, "but it's great fun. I recommend it highly."