|
|||||
|
|||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|||||
 |
 |
    |
|
|
|||
 |
|
||
|
|||
|
|
|
|
||||||||
|
Incineration to Begin Next Week at Pine Bluff
Chemical weapons incineration is set to begin Tuesday at the Pine Bluff Chemical Agent Disposal Facility in Arkansas, the U.S. Army announced yesterday (see GSN, March 15). Work will begin with the disposal of two M55 rockets filled with the nerve agent sarin. “We have confirmed the readiness of our plant, processes and people to begin safe and environmentally sound operations,” site project manager Randy Long said in a press release. “Our plan is to start slowly, gradually increasing the rate of processing to ensure successful operations for the life cycle of the project.” Pine Bluff holds 3,850 tons of chemical agent, 12 percent of the original U.S. stockpile. Disposal of the M55 rockets will be followed in succession by elimination of rockets carrying VX nerve agent, VX landmines and bulk containers of mustard agent, the Army said (U.S. Army release, March 22). Work is expected to continue at least through 2008, the Associated Press reported (Associated Press, March 23). Meanwhile, a federal judge has ruled against activists who filed a lawsuit to shut down the chemical weapons incinerator at Anniston, Ala., the Associated Press reported yesterday. U.S. District Judge David Proctor ruled that the facility’s incineration and waste-disposal methods are in line with its 1997 operating permit, AP reported. “This has once again vindicated to the Army that incineration is a safe and proven technology,” said Greg Mahall, a spokesman for the Army Chemical Materials Agency. “We're very confident in the technology.” Eleven activist organizations that filed the lawsuit in 2002 are considering an appeal of the summary judgment, which was made without the case going to trial. They argue that the incinerator poses a risk to people and the environment in the Anniston area. The federal government has won most of the more than 20 lawsuits filed to stop chemical weapons incineration around the United States, AP reported. “It’s a David and Goliath exercise to begin with,” said Craig Williams, director of the anti-incineration Chemical Weapons Working Group. “But just because there have been repetitious decisions finding in their favor doesn’t mean what they’re doing is acceptable” (Associated Press/Tuscaloosa News, March 22.)
| ||||||||||
Back to top
