Since 1961, the Department of Defense has stockpiled nerve gas in Anniston, Alabama. In order to be in compliance with disarmament treaties, our government must destroy this particular supply of weapons of mass destruction. Because the means of elimination is by incineration, General Synod XXIV of the United Church of Christ is called to support the children, women and men of Anniston, Calhoun County, Alabama, who are at risk in the event of systems failure of the incinerator facility. Such risk is probable as the facility constructed for the elimination has "leaked" each of the three times it was tested. As one of the ministries of our wider denomination, the United Church of Christ Commission for Racial Justice identified hazardous waste incineration as a prime example of environmental racism in its 1987 publication, Toxic Wastes and Race in the United States. Since that time incinerators burning all types of waste--medical, municipal, hazardous military, and radioactive--have wreaked havoc on the health of communities living near these facilities. Since we know that humans are primarily exposed to persistent toxic chemicals (e.g. dioxins, PCBs, and heavy metals) through the food chain, it is also true that the negative impacts of incineration reach populations far away from the incinerator smokestacks.

The same is true for incinerators burning chemical weapons, with one major difference: the U.S. chemical weapons stockpile contains chemical agents like GB and VX nerve agents, which were created to kill or incapacitate humans on contact. To burn these chemicals, venting contaminated gasses into the air, is inherently dangerous for workers and nearby communities. One of the communities directly affected by the plan to eliminate stockpiled nerve-gas weapons through incineration (by U.S. Department of Defense) is Anniston, located in Calhoun County, Alabama.

The present plan of incineration will adversely affect the lives of the approximately 115,000 residents of Calhoun County, with the immediate threat of death on a massive scale. Further, the future health and well-being of the residents and their descendants is at risk.

Thus, members of the United Church Of Christ may proclaim that the present plan of incineration of the nerve gas stockpile is counter to the biblical admonition of doing justice towards all of God's Creation - this is poignantly true in the case of residents of Calhoun County, as their pleas for alternate elimination have not been recognized by the Department of Defense.

On the other hand, several non-incineration technologies demonstrated by the Department of Defense can destroy chemical agents at low temperatures and pressures, in systems which can contain and control pollutants with no uncontrolled releases into the environment. These technologies have been proven by the Department of Defense and accepted by a broad cross-section of citizens from communities living near chemical weapons stockpiles.

However, these technologies have thus far only been offered to four of the eight communities where chemical weapons me stored. The other communities are burdened with incinerators that are operating, or are scheduled to begin operations soon. The Army's incinerators at Kalama Island in the Pacific, and at Tooele, Utah are case studies in malfunctions resulting in smokestack releases of chemical agents, shutdowns due to safety violations, worker exposures to chemical agents and much more.

Based on the Principles of Environmental Justice, and the rights of all peoples, regardless of race, ethnicity or income level to live free of the dangers of toxic chemical contamination, we therefore support the use of safer non-incineration technologies to necessarily destroy lethal chemical weapons at all sites where these weapons are currently stored.

We call on the Departments of the Army and Defense, and the state governments of Utah, Alabama, Arkansas and Oregon to suspend the incineration of chemical weapons, and work immediately to replace incinerators with non-incineration technology.

We also call on these agencies to carry out a decision-making process that allows citizens living near chemical weapons stockpile sites to be directly involved in technology decisions.

WHEREAS the U.S. stockpile of lethal chemical weapons must be destroyed, as mandated by Congress and through the Chernical Weapons Convention;

WHEREAS Congress directed the U.S. Army to destroy these chemical weapons while providing "maximum protection" to workers and citizens throughout the weapons destruction process;

WHEREAS the Army's initial proposed method of weapons disposal was incineration, without consideration of the health consequences of incineration emissions;

WHEREAS incinerators of all kinds emit large amounts of contaminated gasses into the air, containing a number of toxic compounds that are irrefutably linked directly to cancer, birth defects, reproductive disorders, developmental delay, and many other chronic illnesses;

WHEREAS hazardous waste incinerators, landfills and other polluting industry are located near communities of color and low-income populations;

WHEREAS the list of common incinerator emissions--dioxins, furans, PCBs, mercury, lead, and other persistent pollutants--are also emitted from chemical weapons incinerators;

WHEREAS the Army's chemical weapons incinerators also emit chemical agents into the environment, through the smokestack. via contaminated materials, and via chemical agent which may still be present in secondary wastes;

WHEREAS technologies demonstrated by the Department of Defense through its Assembled Chemical Weapons Assessment (ACWA) Program can destroy chemical agents at low temperature and pressure, in a system that contains chemical agents and other toxics without any uncontrolled releases of these toxics into the environment;

WHEREAS these safer technologies are now being used, or will soon be used, to destroy chemical weapons stockpiles in Indiana, Maryland, Colorado and Kentucky;

WHEREAS there is unanimous support for these safer technologies from local citizens as well as from local, state and federal elected officials and government agencies;

WHEREAS the communities living near chemical weapons stockpile sites in Utah, Oregon, Alabama and Arkansas are already overburdened with contamination from nuclear weapons testing and storage, industrial processes that have dumped high levels of dioxins, PCBs and heavy metals into the air, soil and water;

WHEREAS the United States Army and state governments' preferred weapons disposal technology for those stockpiles is incineration, despite the fact that safer technologies are being use elsewhere;

WHEREAS the risks associated with incineration--including toxic smokestack emissions and unsafe worker conditions--are not acceptable if they are avoidable;

WHEREAS preventing the use of safer technologies in disproportionately impacted communities in Utah, Oregon, Alabama and Arkansas violates the Principles of Environmental Justice;

BE IT RESOLVED that General Synod XXIV of the United Church Christ encourages state and local governments to continue seeking safe disposal of proscribed chemicals and chemical weapons in their regions, and calls an the Department of the Army and the Department of Defense to suspend the incineration of chemical weapons, and begin immediately to replace hazardous incinerators with safer non-incineration technology.

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the General Minister and President of the United Church of Christ and the Executive Minister of Justice and Witness Ministries of the United Church of Christ in consultation with the appropriate conference ministers express the General Synod XXIV's opposition to the use of incineration technology in Calhoun County, Alabama and other communities designated as incineration sites, by contacting the appropriate governmental agencies and representatives.

BE IT ALSO RESOLVED THAT we prayerfully request the United States Department of Defense implement a decision-making dialogue that allows citizens living near all chemical weapons stockpile sites direct involvement in the process of choosing an acceptable technology to replace the incinerators.

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that General Synod XXIV of the United Church of Christ requests that Justice and Witness Ministries recommend specific actions and encourage local congregations, associations and conferences to follow up an these actions in support of this resolution.

July 16, 2003
Minneapolis, Minnesota