[CPEO-MEF] Alabama officials question Utah chemical agent release incident

[kefcrowe@acs.eku.edu]

Serving Alabama's Future Environment
700 8th St. N.E. Jacksonville AL 36265
*
Families Concerned About Nerve Gas Incineration
313 Crestview Rd.  Anniston, AL 36201

for more information contact:
Suzanne Marshall:   256-782-0424
Brenda Lindell:   256-236-1496

for immediate release:  Wednesday, May 31, 2000
ALABAMA'S CALHOUN COUNTY COMMISSION ASKS "VEXING QUESTIONS" ABOUT UTAH
CHEMICAL AGENT RELEASE:

ARMY'S DISREGARD OF CHEMICAL AGENT TOXICITY STANDARDS, FAILURE TO COMPLY
WITH OPERATING PROCEDURES AND PERMITS, FAILURE TO NOTIFY LOCAL OFFICIALS OF
THE RELEASE ALL  CITED AS REASONS TO CONDUCT AN INDEPENDENT INVESTIGATION
OF THE INCIDENT

"We do not believe that leaving this investigation to the Army alone will
satisfy our concerns..."

Members of Alabama's Calhoun County Commission are seeking help from their
federal legislators and the U.S. General Accounting Office to obtain
answers to "vexing questions" surrounding the recent releases of chemical
agent from the Army's Tooele, Utah chemical weapons incinerator.
Construction of a chemical weapons incinerator in Anniston, Alabama is
nearing completion, and the Commissioners have called for an "independent
investigation of the Tooele release incident, as well as the failure of the
Army's incinerator technology and the breakdown of local notification
procedures."

In their May 25 letter to Alabama's Senator Jeff Sessions and
Representative Bob Riley, the Commissioners cast doubt on the Army's
ability to credibly investigate the incident themselves.  Citing the Army's
$800 Million investment in the Anniston incinerator the Commissioner's
said, "we don't believe that leaving this investigation to the Army alone
will satisfy our concerns...the Army has too much at stake here and is far
too involved with the current program to be objective in its evaluation of
last week's events at the Tooele incinerator."

The letter also points out that the Army's theory of implementing "lessons
learned" from one facility to the next has not occurred.  "According to the
Army, the Tooele facility was to have benefited from the experiences at
[the Pacific incinerator].  The Army has stated that numerous modifications
which have been made prior to the construction of the Tooele incinerator
have made the incinerator at Tooele fail-proof.  Last week's release
strongly suggests otherwise."

The letter also emphasizes the Army's gross negligence with regard to
emergency preparedness and points to a recent Army report which concludes
"in more than 95% of the computer simulations regarding potential scenarios
surrounding the release of chemical agents at [the incinerator], there will
not be sufficient time for residents in the greater
Anniston-Oxford-Saks-Weaver area to evacuate before a plume of chemical
agent reaches them."  The report suggests that instead of evacuating,
"citizens should stay in their homes and close their windows and doors,"
but it does not tell them how long to remain indoors, or when it would be
safe to go outdoors.  The Commissioners note that the Army says it "simply
does not have the answers to these questions."

In addition, the Commission raises serious questions about the Army's
entire Risk Assessment stating that, "it is generally known that a study
conducted by the National Research Council found that some of the agents
stored at [the Anniston Depot] are twice as toxic as originally submitted
[in the Risk Assessment]." But, says the letter, "the Army contractor
continues to use the lower toxicity levels in formulating its [Emergency
Response] recommendations."

Alabama groups watching the Army's chemical weapons disposal program are
praising the Commission for its efforts to hold the Army accountable for
safe chemical weapons disposal.  Dr. Suzanne Marshall of the citizens group
Serving Alabama's Future Environment (SAFE) said, "After a decade of
watching chronic problems occur at the Army's Pacific and Utah
incinerators, why should we assume that these problems will somehow be
prevented in Alabama? We are grateful to the Commission for seeking an
answer to that question."

SAFE, Families Concerned About Nerve Gas Incineration and other local and
national organizations advocate the safer, non-incineration destruction of
chemical weapons.  A federal advanced technologies program has identified
and demonstrated several such technologies as viable for disposal of
assembled chemical weapons like those stored in Anniston and other U.S.
sites.

Ms. Brenda Lindell, of the Anniston group Families Concerned About Nerve
Gas Incineration said, "We appreciate that the County Commission
understands the serious nature of these problems, and are demanding they be
investigated.  Their timing in raising these questions is especially good
in view of the recent revelation that Anniston has the highest rate of PCB
poisoning in America."  Lindell noted that the Environmental Protection
Agency may soon permit the burning of PCBs in chemical weapons incinerators.

Copies of the Commissioners' letter are available on request.
Elizabeth Crowe
Chemical Weapons Working Group
Non-Stockpile Chemical Weapons Citizens Coalition
(859) 986-0868

*NOTE NEW AREA CODE*

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