Citizens Endorse Alternate CW Disposal

[KEFWILLI@ACS.EKU.EDU]

Subject: Citizens Endorse Alternate CW Disposal

CHEMICAL WEAPONS WORKING GROUP 
P.O. Box 467, Berea, Kentucky 40403
Phone: (606) 986-7565 Fax: (606) 986-2695
e-mail: kefwilli@acs.eku.edu

for more information contact: 
Craig Williams: (606)-986-7565
Bob Schaeffer: (617) 489-0461

for immediate release: Thursday, October 31, 1996

INCINERATION FOES ENDORSE ALTERNATIVE CHEMICAL WEAPONS
DESTRUCTION AT ABERDEEN PROVING GROUND; 
ACTIVISTS SAY, 'NIMBY' LABEL WAS ALWAYS FALSE

 Opponents of Pentagon plans to incinerate the nation's
chemical weapons stockpile today endorsed an alternative
approach for eliminating mustard agents stored at the Army's
Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland facility.
 In a resolution unanimously adopted by members of the
Chemical Weapons Working Group (CWWG), leaders of community
organizations near all U.S. stockpile sites supported the
use of chemical neutralization followed by on-site
biological treatment to destroy mustard agents stored in
bulk containers at Aberdeen. Citizens' long-standing
demands for non-incineration technologies were advanced
recently by recommendations to the Pentagon for
neutralization at Aberdeen by the National Research Council,
the Army Material Systems Analysis Activity and the Army
Core Evaluation Team on Chemical Weapons Disposal. 
 "Those who have labeled incineration opponents NIMBY's (Not
In My Back Yard) were always wrong," explained CWWG
spokesperson Craig Williams. "We have always made clear
that we support destroying chemical warfare material at the
facilities where they are stored if the technology is safe
in protecting human health and the environment. Our support
of this alternative approach shows what can be accomplished
when citizens are directly involved in decision-making. If
the Army seriously considered incineration alternatives at
the other facilities, similar progress could be made to
eliminate the stockpile nationwide."
 The complete CWWG resolution reads: 

"With unanimous support of its members in communities near
the Aberdeen Proving Ground, and in keeping with the
principles expressed in the International Citizens' Accords
on Chemical Weapons Disposal, approved by the Chemical
Weapons Working Group (CWWG) at its initial meeting in 1991,
opposing incineration at any stockpile site, the CWWG and
its members in all of the chemical weapons stockpile
communities unanimously support the use of chemical
neutralization, followed by on-site biological treatment of
the residual hydrolysate, for destruction of the mustard
agents currently in bulk containers at Aberdeen Proving
Ground, Maryland." 

CWWG community contacts:

Pine Bluff, Arkansas Dr. Abdullah Muhammad (501) 534-3320
Johnston Atoll, Pacific Pua'Ena Burgess (808) 696-5157
Blue Grass Depot, Kentucky Gina Chamberlain (606) 986-5667
Newport, Indiana Mark Hudson (317) 569-5887
Umatilla, Oregon Karyn Jones (541) 567-6581
Tooele, Utah Cindy King (801) 486-9848
Anniston, Alabama Suzanne Marshall (205) 236-5234
Aberdeen, Maryland John Nunn (410) 778-5968
Pueblo, Colorado Alan Urban (719) 783-9755
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