The Olympian (WA)
August 18, 2003

Nerve gas incineration raises fear of toxic cloud

GANNETT NEWS SERVICE
ANNISTON, Ala. -- Fear and distrust run deep here in "the pink zone."

These are the neighborhoods closest to the Anniston Army Depot where the Army began burning obsolete but deadly chemical weapons this month. Toxins such as sarin and VX nerve gas -- the very weapons of mass destruction that have been so much in the news lately -- will be destroyed over the next seven years.

If an accident occurred that sent a toxic cloud into the air, the pink zone would be Ground Zero. In an eerie preview of what life might be like in a future chemical attack by terrorists, people who live within 6 miles of the Army's incinerator have been issued protective plastic hoods, portable air filters, duct tape and plastic and told to prepare a "safe room" in their homes.

The Army also has the Umatilla Chemical Depot in northeastern Oregon where it has contracted with the Raytheon Company to build a chemical weapons incinerator. The company and the Army have been sued over that project on behalf of 34 construction workers who suddenly fell ill at the site. Many complained of severe shortness of breath and dizziness, while others vomited and had coughing fits.

Raytheon settled with the workers Aug. 12. The case against the Army goes to U.S. District Court in Portland on Sept. 29.

Anniston is the first American city where citizens have been issued gas masks by the government. For months, people have been urged to learn how to use them. And they've been told that if a chemical leak occurs, don't flee; instead, "shelter in place" in their homes, schools or businesses.

Safe rooms are being created in schools, jails and hospitals in the pink zone. The government is spending $55 million to retrofit buildings where the public gathers with refrigerator-sized air-filtration systems, according to the Federal Emergency Management Agency. A total of $140 million is being spent on Anniston's preparedness.

"I've been lied to so many times by the government," said Randy Hayes, 51, senior pastor of Church on the Rock. He said the preparations are "just to appease the minds of the people, so there's not widespread panic."

Like thousands of others, Hayes is a member of one of several class-action lawsuits against the old Monsanto chemical plant. It contaminated west Anniston for decades with polychlorinated bbiphenyls -- or PCBs -- which cause cancer and birth defects and perhaps learning disabilities.

Rufus Kinney, a Jacksonville State University English teacher, lives 15 miles from the incinerator. He was the lone protester outside the gates when it was fired up Aug. 9. "The irony is that our government is looking for weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, and at the same time, they're not protecting us from our own weapons of mass destruction," he said. "This is absolute madness. I call it crazy-in-Alabama taken to a new level."

Michael Abrams, an incinerator spokesman, says burning the chemicals is a safe method of disposal. Since 1990, he says, the Army has burned 16,214,000 pounds of chemical agents at two other facilities -- Deseret Chemical Depot in Tooele, Utah, and Johnston Atoll in the Pacific Ocean southwest of Hawaii.

Abrams acknowledges that those facilities are in remote locations -- the ocean and a sparsely populated area. He said there were "only two or three" occurrences of any chemical agent escaping.