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Opponents of Anniston incinerator foiledMONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP)— Anniston area residents lost» JmR £another battle ruesdav in their fight to prevent completion of a chemical weapons incinerator like the one that released nerve* j i igas in Utah.The Alabama Environmental Management C ommission sided unanimously with the Army's $700 million project in Anniston. Bu\ the decision came amid shouts of protest from opponents who were angry the commission would not let them voice their concerns publicly.“You are nothing but a rubber sjapip for polluters. You ought tobe ashamed/' Jacksonville State University English teacher Rufus Kinney veiled at the commission.w w■ 1 v_ M _ ADavid I udder, attorney for the Legal Environmental Assistance. Eojundation. said opponents will appeal the commission's decision to Montgomery County C ircuit Court. He said one contention in the appeal w ill be that the Army's contingency plan in case of an accident is inadequate to protectnearby residents.• Maj. Scott Romans, an Arm\^ «✓attorney, said he doesn't expectthe court appeal to delay the project; which is due to be completed in February 2001.r•Ax is scheduled to begin burning chemical weapons in 2002. The Army contends it is safer to incinerate more than 2.000 tons Of ^chemical weapons at the Anniston Army Depot than to leave them in storage. Opponentswant the Army to try other meth-•* *ods of disposal.•’The site project manager. Timothy Garrett, said the Army has been working closely with state environmental officials “to ensure we maintain the trust, credibility and rapport that is a true foundation for an excellent working partnership between the Army and the State of Alabama. The Army's first chemicalAP PhotoProtester Michael Marvinny, of Jacksonville, wears a gas mask as he joins about a dozen protesters in front of The Environmental Building in Montgomery Tuesday. The group attended a meeting of the Alabama Dept, of Environmental Management to express their concern over a chemical weapons incinerator under construction at Fort McClellan near Anniston.weapons incinerator at Tooele. I tah. released 18 milligrams of the nerve agent sarin from its smokestack May 8. A preliminary report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said the leak did not endanger-workers at the facility or nearbv* •residents.But it heightened fears in the Anniston area.Jeanette Champion, who lives about a mile from the incinerator, said Anniston already suffers from PCB contamination from the manufacturer of the product in the city for nearly 50 years, and the incinerator will add to the city's pollution problems.The state’s environmental agency, the Alabama Departmentof Environmental Management.issued a permit for the incinerator's construction three years ago. Opponents appealed to a departmental hearing office, who recommended the Environmental Management Commission uphold the department's decision.The commission agreed on a 7-() vote. Commission Chairman Richard Thigpen of Tuscaloosa said the members had conscientiously studied 5,400 pages of documents about the incinerator before voting.The commission’s unanimousdecision came after the commission voted 4-3 against a request from opponents to present a v erbal summary of their concerns.“With the documents before us, I don't see how oral arguments would add anything.Commissioner William Sanders of Prattville said.Water talks headed to courtMONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP)— Alabama has finished years of*•negotiations with Georgia over how to share water and is ready to take its case back to federal court. •Alabama's chief negotiator said.“There are no negotiations going on now. period, Alabama negotiator Jim Campbell said Mondav.•rGeorgia's chief negotiator. Bob Kerr, said he didn't know Alabama ;considered talks to be at a stalemate and thought negotiations .would proceed after the states worked out details of a mediationvprocess.“If Alabama says they're over, and they're not willing to come back to the table, then 1 assume they're over. Kerr said. Florida is also part of the w ater talks.In April, the states set an Aug. I deadline to agree on sharing water in the Alabama-Coosa-Tallapoosariver basin. Carrie Kurlander, spokeswoman for Alabama Gov. Don Siegelman, said the state still hopes to resolve the issue without returning to court.“C learly we have been frustrat-Jed w ith Georgia’s inflexibility on this issue, but we are absolutely willing to sit down with anyone anytime to discuss the water talks. Kurlander said.The states have been trying for two years to establish a 50-year water allocation formula for the riv er basins. So far, they have not been able to agree even on the least amount of water that flows across state lines.Talks have stalled since Georgia refused to accept a Feb. 9 proposal by Alabama negotiators that called for an interim 10- to 15-year agreement. Georgia later responded with a counter proposal that Gov. Don Siegelman rejected.Kerr has said that two main sticking points are the amount of water that flows from Georgia lakes and rivers into Alabama during low-flow times of the year and the amount of w ater consumption in Georgia during those times.Alabama negotiators have said one of the main issues is how much water Georgia can use from the supply that flows into both states.Alabama filed suit against the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in 1990 to prevent Georgia from increasing the hundreds of millions of gallons of water it uses from upstream lakes.AUTOINSURANCE232-7200
Newspaper Details
Athens News Courier
Athens, Alabama, US
Wed, Jun 21, 2000
Page 3
Full Page
Clipped by
Lynn M.
USA 17 May 2018
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