Formally ending an uneasy détente between his office and the federal government, Gov. Don Siegelman Thursday renewed his legal effort to halt the Army's chemical weapons incinerator.Lawyers for the administration filed a request in federal court in Birmingham for a preliminary injunction against the facility. The move comes as no surprise at this stage in the long-running conflicts between county officials, supported by allies in Montgomery and Washington, D.C., and the federal government over how the community near the incinerator should be prepared for the event of an accident.
The governor's aides have said for weeks that Siegelman was considering reinstating the request, which was withdrawn in March, when it appeared that Federal Emergency Management Agency would drop its objections to distributing protective respiratory hoods to the incinerator's neighbors.
In the past few months, however, the parties have been unable to forge an agreement on details for distributing the hoods as well as protective suits for emergency responders. More than $7 million remain outstanding in the local emergency preparedness program as do key decisions on which schools will receive equipment that will make them airtight during an accident.
"We are going to make the Federal government live up to his its promise to the people of Anniston and Calhoun County," Siegelman said in a written release.
This most recent salvo was fired as a high-ranking FEMA official visits with Calhoun County emergency management officials. R. David Paulison, the U.S. Fire Administrator, Thursday visited the incinerator and the Center for Domestic Preparedness. This trip is believed to be paving the way for one by his boss, FEMA director Joe Allbaugh.
A FEMA spokesman declined comment and was unwilling to talk about Allbaugh's plans.
U.S. Rep Bob Riley, R-Ashland, who is challenging Siegelman in the fall election, said that Paulison's visit and other conversations Riley's had with FEMA officials suggest that the conflict is nearing an end.
"We're well on our way to working this out," he said.
A local official supported the governor's move.
"I hate that he had to do that," said Calhoun County Commission Chairman Lea Fite. "I hope that FEMA will come across with money whereupon the governor will drop his injunction like he did before."
As recently as last month, the commission wrote a letter urging Siegelman to take just this action. The Alabama Education Association echoed this late last month and even offered to join the lawsuit.
The governor remains the sole plaintiff.
An Army official declined to comment on the pending litigation. The incinerator recently finished a second trial period on surrogate materials and is scheduled to begin burning nerve agent in September.
