Tuscaloosa News
July 31, 2003

Weapons incinerator one step closer to startup

The Associated Press

The U.S. Army moved one step closer Wednesday to starting its weapons incinerator in Anniston, gaining approval from the Alabama Department of Environmental Management.

ADEM approved a permit modification for the $1 billion incinerator at the Anniston Army Depot, which means the Army "has met the technical and regulatory requirements to proceed with the destruction of chemical agents," an ADEM news release said.

Incinerator spokesman Mike Abrams said Wednesday evening that officials now are simply awaiting clearance from Army headquarters to begin destroying chemical weapons.

"It is a major step to us beginning operations," Abrams said of the ADEM approval. "We're just waiting on word from our higher headquarters to see what we do next."

Abrams said he expected to hear from headquarters soon.

The Army has said it wants to begin this month destroying live nerve agents stored at the depot, a sprawling garage and storehouse about 50 miles east of Birmingham.

About 7 percent of the nation's stockpile of chemical weapons - some 2,254 tons of munitions - are stored in Anniston. The incinerator will be the nation's first to operate in a heavily populated area.

Emergency planners say some 35,000 people live within nine miles of the incinerator, and more than 250,000 are within a 30-mile circle.

The program has drawn heavy criticism from area environmental groups and residents.

They worry about safety hazards once workers start chopping up Cold War-era rockets, shells and mines and destroying them.

Gov. Bob Riley said Friday that he wants the right to stop the program once it starts if he thinks the Army hasn't met all the safety precautions it has promised for the Anniston area.

Others want the incineration program to get going. They're afraid of possible deterioration and leakage from the tons of chemical weapons that have been stored in concrete bunkers for decades.