Who's Who

12-30-2001

The cast list of decision-makers and onlookers to the chemical weapons discussion is a long one, but our "Who's Who" list includes the names you will see over and over again in an issue that affects Calhoun County. Calhoun County Commission “Build it. Burn it. Forget it.” Commissioner Eli Henderson’s snappy slogan may trip lightly off the tongue, but it conceals the complex knot of feelings that underlies the issue of incinerating chemical weapons in Anniston. Though four of the five commissioners publicly support the incineration program — the exception is Robert Downing — a willingness to delay the burns has at times surfaced during the county’s scuffling with federal officials over safety matters. In June, the commission circulated among the county’s municipalities a resolution that expressed support for the county’s efforts and implicitly supported delaying the burns if its safety demands weren’t met. The failed effort cast some doubt on the widely held belief that the incineration debate had evolved from whether to burn to whether the community is prepared for an accident at the stockpile or incinerator. Tim Garrett Garrett, a civilian, has managed the incinerator project for the Army since early 2000. An Alabama native and a graduate of the University of Alabama, he started working for the federal government in 1987 as a chemical engineer at the Anniston Army Depot. He is working on a doctorate in engineering management at the University of Alabama-Huntsville. Lt. Col. Bruce Williams Williams took command of the more than 2,000 tons of chemical weapons stored at the Anniston Army Depot in late 2000. At that time, he also took up a public relations campaign to try to build a consensus on the many issues surrounding the stockpile and incinerator. A native of Gadsden, Williams has a master’s degree in environmental engineering from the University of Alabama. Prior to his current command, he coordinated foreign troops on humanitarian missions in Albania. Mike Burney As director of the Calhoun County Emergency Management Agency, Burney has been at the center of the public disputes with federal officials over emergency readiness. His agency differs with its federal counterpart as to what it will take for the residents who live closest to the depot to be prepared for a chemical accident. Last spring, the county bowed out of a regional public information campaign because, Burney said, he didn’t have sufficient toxicity information on the agents at the depot and therefore didn’t know what to tell county residents. More recently, Burney said he would incorporate shelter-in-place into the county’s protective action plan, which presently consists of evacuation, once the county receives federal emergency preparedness funding and the updated toxicity numbers. The funding could go toward sheltering equipment, including protective hoods and air filters. David Springer The Calhoun County Commission hired Springer, a Washington lawyer, to lobby Congress for $70 million to make up for what the commission claimed is a negative economic impact caused by the incinerator. A few months before one of its high-ranking officials approved tens of millions of dollars for the county’s emergency preparedness, the Pentagon balked at the impact fees request. Its evidence was a report that financial gains made by the state through the construction of the incinerator outweighed local losses. The county said the money would go toward shoring up evacuation routes, and the lobbying effort at times blurred the line between economic assistance and emergency preparedness. The commission has since backed away from the term “impact fees,” but Springer remains a player. The Anniston native is a consultant to the commission on matters related to chemical weapons and emergency preparedness. U.S. Sen. Richard Shelby Using his perch as a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee and the Defense Appropriations Subcommittee, Shelby has been critical of the organizational structure of the chemical weapons demilitarization program. The three-term Republican from Tuscaloosa took part in a hearing last spring in which Army officials were questioned on cost overruns and the issue of community safety. Shelby followed the hearing with a May 2001 letter to Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld. There the senator charged that a lack of accountability within the program has left communities unprepared and distrustful of the Army. More recently, Shelby authored legislation that requires three out of a group of four local, state and federal officials to sign off on incineration before it begins. Edward “Pete” Aldridge Credited by some with narrowing the divide between federal and local officials over emergency preparedness issues, Undersecretary of Defense Aldridge took control of oversight of the chemical weapons disposal program last spring. His boss, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, made the change after the program came under withering criticism for budget overruns, delays and an unwieldy chain of command. In November, Aldridge directed the Army to allocate $40.5 million to Alabama for emergency preparedness programs. Though Calhoun County still awaits its share of the funding, the money will be spent on shelter-in-place materials, including protective hoods, updated computer software and additional staffing for the county EMA, among other measures. U.S. Rep. Bob Riley A longtime proponent of impact fees for Calhoun County, Riley in the past year became more outspoken on incinerator safety issues. This was the same year in which the Clay County businessman became a Republican candidate for governor. Riley pushed for a National Academy of Sciences study of chemical releases at other incinerator sites. He orchestrated an academy hearing that brought members of the County Commission and anti-incineration activists to Washington in June. Finally, he authored legislation that would create a six-member board that would decide whether the community is safe before the burns could begin. A negative vote could delay incineration 90 days. Gov. Don Siegelman In between state budget crises and nagging ethical questions, Siegelman found time last spring to mount a letter-writing campaign supporting the county’s positions on emergency preparedness and impact fees. In a letter to the secretary of defense, the first-term governor, a Democrat up for re-election in 2002, threatened not to support the start-up of the incinerator unless the demands listed on the county’s 12-point safety checklist are met. Craig Williams Head of a leading anti-incineration group, Williams is an advocate of disposing of chemical weapons using alternative technologies. At a November meeting in Oxford, Williams laid out a plan in which the weapons would be disassembled and the nerve agents neutralized with a chemical solution. Army officials challenged the plan’s premises, saying that such a program would take years to get off the ground, during which time the decaying munitions would continue to pose a risk to the public. Over the years, Williams and his Kentucky-based Chemical Weapons Working Group have been a gadfly to the incineration program. The group claims that the program poses environmental and health threats to the communities near incinerator sites. Closely allied with U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., the group has an Anniston offshoot whose most vocal members are Brenda Lindell and Jacksonville State University professor Rufus Kinney.