So here comes Sen. Richard Shelby with a half-baked idea that could delay the incineration of the chemical weapons stockpile. His plan, tacked onto the defense-spending bill, which recently passed the Senate, would require three of four representatives of an oversight board to sign off on a range of safety concerns before the incinerator can begin operations.Thanks, Sen. Shelby, but we already have two such boards in place that would essentially do the same thing. This one would only add another layer of bureaucracy.
The irony here is that the senator is telling us this is all about protecting the community.
And perhaps in his muddled understanding of the issue, he really believes what he is saying. In reality, however, this measure will only put us at risk.
The beginning of the incineration process — as the senator and his sidekick in the delay game, Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky (who so eloquently chimed in on Thursday’s editorial page) have been told about a million times — does not represent an increase in the danger to the community, it represents a decrease in the danger level. For every weapon that is destroyed, that is one less weapon that can leak or explode at the Depot.
Sen. Shelby’s scheme adds to the possibility that the stockpile will simply sit there for years to come and that is the real danger here.
And during that sitting time the weapons will corrode (we already have well over 800 leakers with more springing leaks every week) and any number of unthinkable accidents or incidents could occur.
One would think that in the wake of the Sept. 11 tragedies that our elected leaders here and in Washington would see the urgency of getting rid of this stockpile as quickly as possible.
But sadly, especially for our community, we still have too many leaders who either don’t understand exactly what this is all about or are somehow trying to use it for political gain.
We can only hope that Sen. Shelby wises up or wakes up and kills this idea.
