Tooele Transcript Bulletin
July 18, 2003

Protest mounts as Army readies Alabama burner

Anniston, Ala. citizens gathered today at the Seventeenth Street Baptist
Church to respond to news that the Alabama Department of Environmental
Management (ADEM) gave formal notification to Governor Bob Riley, that
it was poised to clear the way for the Army to begin burning lethal
chemical weapons stored at the Anniston Army Depot.

Vowing to keep up the fight for the use of safe, non-incineration
methods for destruction of the chemical weapons, the group demanded of
Governor Riley, "Do not let our community suffer exposure to lethal
nerve gas," according to a press release from the Chemical Weapons
Working Group.

"I like to believe that our state regulators and elected officials have
common sense and a commitment to the health of the children and families
of Alabama," said Rufus Kinney of the group Families Concerned About
Nerve Gas Incineration. "But today I see no evidence that anyone is
stepping up to demand maximum protection of our community, and that is
simply disgraceful."

Yesterday, citizens learned from a news source that ADEM's review of the
incinerator permit was nearly complete. ADEM officials affirmed, in a
subsequent phone conversation, that there is no legal obligation for the
Army or the state to notify the community exactly when the incinerator
would begin. Kinney said not only is incineration a danger to the
community because of the high likelihood of chemical agent releases, but
many emergency preparedness measures--such as over-pressurization of
schools and churches--have not been completed. "We have a legal right
to maximum protection," said Kinney, "and we intend to get it before any
chemical weapons are removed from the igloos."

Elizabeth Crowe, organizer with the Chemical Weapons Working Group
(CWWG), a national grassroots coalition of citizen groups working for safe
alternatives toincineration of chemical weapons, said that the groups will continue
legal and grassroots actions to replace the incinerator with safer
technology that can prevent releases of chemical agent into the
community, and better protect workers from exposure to chemicals within
the plant, according to the release.

Brenda Lindell, of Families Concerned About Nerve Gas Incineration,
noted that the Army recently refused to consider non-incineration
technologies--such as neutralization technologies to be used at four
other chemical weapons stockpile sites--even as a "Plan B" in the event
that the incinerator didn't work. A June 4 letter to the Calhoun County
Commission from Col. Nancy Ray, Acting Assistant Deputy to the Secretary
of the Army for Elimination of Chemical Weapons, denied the Commission's
request for such a contingency plan.

"When the Army refuses to look at any alternative, we have to ask: who
really stands to benefit from incineration?" said Lindell. "In this case
the incinerator contractor wins with bonus awards, while the workers at
the plant and the people of this community stand to lose everything."

Dr. N.Q. Reynolds, Pastor of the Seventeenth Street Baptist Church and
President of the Calhoun County Chapter of the Southern Christian
Leadership Conference said, "This community has suffered enough from
toxic contamination, we don't want any more, and we won't take any more.
The Army is perfectly capable of destroying chemical weapons without
also destroying our health, and we want Governor Riley and President
Bush to use their power to make them do it."