Editorial: They’re like canaries in a coal mine

Friday, Sept. 20, 2002 | 9:07 a.m.

Not far from homes, schools, day care centers and nursing homes in Anniston, Ala., in a few weeks the Defense Department will begin a seven-year plan to incinerate about 2,200 tons of chemical weapons. The New York Times, in a story this week, described the poisonous gases involved as "the most inhuman weapons ever devised." Unlike the two other Army facilities located in remote areas that incinerate the U.S. chemical weapons stockpile -- Tooele, Utah and Johnston Island in the Pacific Ocean -- the Anniston Army Depot is near a populated area. Anniston County has 116,00 people and 35,000 of them live within 9 miles of the plant. If a leak happened, the Times writes, residents would only have between 8 to 15 minutes to evacuate.

It's bad enough the Defense Department wants to incinerate deadly chemicals so close to residential areas, but it's also dumbfounding that the Defense Department will incinerate the chemicals even though the local governments haven't had enough time to come up with an emergency preparedness plan if there is an accident. One of the reasons why local officials aren't ready to react in case there is a leak is because the Defense Department was late in providing emergency response funding. Meanwhile, the Army says it's not responsible for the protection of residents if a catastrophic accident happens. Besides, the Army contends the incineration is safe and there's no way an accident can occur. Despite those assurances, there have been accidental leaks from incinerators at the Johnston Island and Tooele plants.

"Contempt" is a word that only can begin to convey the Defense Department's attitude to the residents of Anniston, Ala. It's something that we're a little familiar with here in light of the federal government's plans to bury the nation's high-level nuclear waste in Nevada -- despite evidence that has shown how dangerous that would be.