United States:  Alabama Governor Wants Power to Shut Down Anniston Incinerator

Alabama Governor Bob Riley has refused to sign a memorandum of agreement with the U.S. Army over a chemical weapons incinerator located at the Anniston Army Depot unless he is given the authority to stop the incinerator if necessary, the Birmingham News reported Saturday (see GSN, July 24).

Riley is requesting a clause in the memorandum that would state that he would have the authority to shut down the incinerator if the Army does not fulfill its safety commitments, Riley’s spokesman David Azbell said.  The Army is considering Riley’s request, a Defense Department spokeswoman said.

The Army does not need Riley’s permission to operate the incinerator, according to the News.  Even so, earlier this year officials began discussing the memorandum, which sets the terms agreed to by Alabama and the Army to begin the incinerator’s operation.  The memorandum requires the signatures of Acting Army Secretary Les Brownlee, a Homeland Security Department official and Riley.

“By having the MOA, it gives the governor the assurance that his concerns have been resolved and at the same time, with this clause it gives him the ability to take action on behalf of the people of Alabama,” Azbell said (Katherine Bouma, Birmingham News, July 26).

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United States:  Pentagon Set to Begin Destroying Anniston Stockpile

The U.S. Defense Department is scheduled to begin destroying chemical weapons at Alabama’s Anniston Army Depot soon, possibly as early as the end of July, the Associated Press reported today (see GSN, July 9).

Local residents are concerned about a possible accident, and about $140 million has been spent to protect the community.

“If something happens I think we’ll pretty much be dead,” said Anniston child care worker Beverly Carlisle.  “I just don’t feel safe,” she added (Jay Reeves, Associated Press/Columbia State, July 24).

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CWC:  ILO Rules Bustani Improperly Dismissed From OPCW

The U.N. International Labor Organization ruled last week that Jose Mauricio Bustani was wrongly dismissed last year as head of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons.  Charging him with mismanagement, the United States led the effort to unseat Bustani from the organization, which is responsible for implementing the Chemical Weapons Convention (see GSN, April 23, 2002).

Bustani’s supporters have said the United States removed him because Bustani wanted Iraq to join the treaty, according to the Associated Press, a move that could have made it more difficult for the United States to go to war.

The ILO ruled that Bustani was improperly dismissed and awarded him $56,700, to be paid by the OPCW, AP reported.  The ILO said Bustani was not given a fair opportunity to respond to U.S. charges, according to a copy of the ruling obtained by AP.  The lack of due process in Bustani’s dismissal was “an unacceptable violation of the principle on which international organizations’ activities are founded, by rendering officials vulnerable to pressures and to political change,” the ILO said.

Bustani said the ruling was a “great relief” and that he planned to donate his award to an OPCW international cooperation program (see GSN, Jan. 9; Anthony Deutsch, Associated Press/Yahoo!News, July 21).

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