Sarasota Herald-Tribune
July 18, 2003

Opponents plan final push to stop chemical weapons burning in Alabama

By JAY REEVES
Associated Press Writer

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. Critics of the Army's plan to burn tons of chemical weapons in Alabama said Thursday they will make a last effort to block the incinerator, set to begin destroying Cold War-era munitions this month.

A consortium of groups will ask a court to block the operation of the incinerator at the Anniston Army Depot as soon as papers can be drawn up, said Elizabeth Crowe of the Chemical Weapons Working Group.

With the state yet to give its final approval for the incineration program, Crowe said opponents could ask a court to bar the state from issuing a permit to operate it.

"Legally there are quite obviously a number of issues to be resolved," said Crowe.

The Army has said it wants to begin work this month burning the 2,254 tons of nerve agents and mustard gas stored in concrete bunkers at the Anniston depot.

Crowe's organization wants the Army to scrap the idea of incinerating the material and instead destroy it using a chemical neutralization process, which it claims is less risky.

The Army contends incineration is a safe, proven way of destroying the weapons since two other incinerators already have destroyed more than 8,100 tons of munitions without anyone being seriously injured by the chemicals.

"Nobody has been hurt in the incineration process," said Mike Abrams, a spokesman for the Anniston facility, located about 50 miles east of Birmingham.

David Ford, a spokesman for Calhoun County emergency planners, said about 35,000 people live within nine miles of the incinerator, the area where people are considered most at risk in any accident.

The Army already has spent about $500 million building the incinerator, and it expects to spend roughly the same amount operating it over a period of at least seven years.

On Wednesday, the Alabama Department of Environmental Management said it had notified Gov. Bob Riley it was nearly ready to decide whether to let the incinerator begin a shakedown period that will include trial burns of live agents. All signs pointed toward approval.

"Of the information we have so far ... we've not documented any problems or areas of concern," said Scott Hughes, a spokesman for the agency.

Hughes said the Army wants a permit modification that would clear the way for burning the nerve agent GB, or sarin, at Anniston. Subsequent modifications would be required before the military could destroy its stockpiles of VX nerve agent and mustard gas, he said.

Anniston is one of eight sites where the Army has stored chemical weapons from the Cold War. The United States has agreed to destroy the munitions under an international treaty.