Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

U.S. Court Asked to Halt Nerve Gas Destruction
Reuters ^ | Aug. 4 | Verna Gates

Posted on 08/04/2003 6:11:45 PM PDT by mdittmar

A coalition of environmentalists and citizens groups asked a U.S. court on Monday to issue a last-minute injunction barring the military from destroying hundreds of Cold War-era chemical weapons at an incinerator in Alabama.

The U.S. Army, complying with an international treaty, is expected to begin burning the first of its M-55 rockets containing the deadly nerve agent sarin on Wednesday at its $1 billion chemical weapons disposal facility in Anniston.

In a motion filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, the Sierra Club environmental group and other opponents of the plan argued that large amounts of dangerous chemicals would be released into the environment if the Army and Department of Defense were allowed to proceed.

The Army's weapons disposal facility is located in the middle of Anniston, which is home to about 110,000 people, and less than 100 miles from the more heavily populated cities of Atlanta and Birmingham.

"It is no secret that this community is grossly unprepared for an incident with these weapons of mass destruction," said Craig Williams, director of the Chemical Weapons Working Group, one of the groups requesting the restraining order.

"We are confident that when presented with the facts, a judge will come to that same conclusion," Williams said.

Military officials have said the project does not pose an undue danger to local residents, but have admitted they will begin the incineration process by destroying chemical weapons that posed the greatest danger to the community.

Thousands of residents in what is called the pink zone, the area designated as the most at risk in the event of a chemical release, have been offered protective hoods, air filters and shelter kits in preparation for the event.

The Army's weapons depot in Anniston contains more than 2,000 tons of rockets, artillery shells and land mines, which contain sarin, VX and other nerve agents. There have been hundreds of small leaks from these weapons since 1982.

The stockpile accounts for about 6 percent of the 31,000 tons of U.S. chemical weapons that must be destroyed by 2007 under the terms of an international treaty. Part of the stockpile has been eliminated at incinerators in Utah and on an atoll in the Pacific.

In their complaint on Monday, environmentalists also asked for an injunction to prevent further incineration of chemical weapons at the Army's disposal site in Utah.

They contend the Army should be destroying chemical weapons with an alternative low-heat, low-pressure "chemical neutralization" technology that they claim offers a safer way to destroy dangerous toxic agents.

About 750 local residents are employed at the disposal facility in Anniston, a pro-military working-class town hard hit by the recent national economic slump.


TOPICS: Government; News/Current Events; US: Alabama
KEYWORDS: chemicalweapons; nerveagents; vx
How odd.

Gues they want All Or Nothing At All

1 posted on 08/04/2003 6:11:45 PM PDT by mdittmar
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: mdittmar
Sierra Club.........the political wing of ELF.
2 posted on 08/04/2003 6:21:03 PM PDT by Ben Hecks
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: mdittmar
The U.S. Army, complying with an international treaty, is expected to begin burning the first of its M-55 rockets containing the deadly nerve agent sarin on Wednesday at its $1 billion chemical weapons disposal facility in Anniston.
In a motion filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, the Sierra Club environmental group and other opponents of the plan argued that large amounts of dangerous chemicals would be released into the environment if the Army and Department of Defense were allowed to proceed.

Does anyone here have any opposition in complying with international treaties by outsourcing the sarin disposal in North Korea?

For the price of a flying a B-52 with fighter and ECM escort, I am sure I can keep it under $1 billion.

Anyone want to apply for the job? I am putting together a "bid" to dispose of this in a manner where the Sierra Club cannot interfere in court procedings.

3 posted on 08/04/2003 6:23:44 PM PDT by Dr Warmoose
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: mdittmar
The left sure seems to not want WMDs of any sort eliminated, though they sure say they do all the time. Hoever, they wanted Saddam to keep his, and now they are trying to stop the army from destroying some of ours. Ah those libs, can't make a coherent position on any issue it appears.
4 posted on 08/04/2003 6:24:07 PM PDT by swilhelm73
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: mdittmar
Is there a problem with destroying them with the low-heat method? Is it really that much better? Just what kind of chemicals will burning Sarin and VX release?
5 posted on 08/04/2003 6:29:17 PM PDT by Zeroisanumber
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: mdittmar
Those dizzy Druids. I know a perfect place to put each of those canisters that will leave the world a better place.
6 posted on 08/04/2003 6:29:21 PM PDT by caisson71
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: mdittmar
Kind of ironic, isn't it?

Nerve gas being destroyed at Annistion Army Depot.

Leftist actor Jennifer Anniston gets on my nerves.

Co-incidence? You decide...

7 posted on 08/04/2003 6:29:44 PM PDT by Old Sarge (Makin' it Hurt so Good...)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Zeroisanumber
"Just what kind of chemicals will burning Sarin and VX release?"

Don't expect to get a straight answer out of the enviros. They probably don't know the answer. But, more important, they don't care.

VX could sublimate into Chanel No. 5 and it would make no difference. All they want is the issue.

8 posted on 08/04/2003 6:40:15 PM PDT by okie01 (The Mainstream Media: IGNORANCE ON PARADE.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 5 | View Replies]

To: Ben Hecks; All
About 750 local residents are employed at the disposal facility in Anniston, a pro-military working-class town hard hit by the recent national economic slump.

Man I hate posting anything by rooters.

9 posted on 08/04/2003 6:42:00 PM PDT by mdittmar
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: mdittmar
should be destroying chemical weapons with an alternative low-heat, low-pressure "chemical neutralization" technology that they claim offers a safer way to destroy dangerous toxic agents.

I'll bet they own this technology or at least have a financial interest in this technology.
10 posted on 08/04/2003 7:17:56 PM PDT by microgood (They will all die......most of them.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: microgood
That's kinda "meanspirited" to suggest that A coalition of environmentalists and citizens groups would have anything but the purist intentions;)
11 posted on 08/04/2003 7:48:47 PM PDT by mdittmar
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 10 | View Replies]

To: mdittmar
That's kinda "meanspirited" to suggest that A coalition of environmentalists and citizens groups would have anything but the purist intentions;)

LOL...And I used to be such a trusting person. I wonder what changed.
12 posted on 08/04/2003 9:50:27 PM PDT by microgood (They will all die......most of them.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 11 | View Replies]

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson