There goes The Star once again attacking our Senior Senator, Richard Shelby. This time the assault was in response to Senator Shelby’s announcement in Anniston recently that the Army would not be allowed to start the incinerator if Calhoun County does not quickly receive the $40.5 million the Army and FEMA promised to provide Calhoun County for safety measures almost three months ago.
According to The Star, any delay would increase the risk of an accidental release of nerve agent at the chemical weapons stockpile located in our backyard. In The Star’s perverse world it would be entirely safe and without any risk to begin the incineration process by chopping up the 66,000 M55 rockets and throwing them into a furnace — agents, energetics, metal, explosives — all at once at a rate of 30 to 34 per hour. (By contrast, Utah limits its incinerator to destroying only 1.5 M55 rockets per hour because of safety concerns.) This “chop and drop” process has never been done anywhere before and will be tried for the first time in Calhoun County even though we have no protection and no time to evacuate. Furthermore, this very risky process is the first thing the Army plans to carry out once the incinerator starts operating.
Clearly Sen. Shelby can see the serious risks associated with this “chop and drop” process, which the National Research Council in a 1993 report said was dangerous and should never be used. That is why Sen. Shelby has made it clear to the Army and FEMA that we must have the protective hoods, the Level A protective suits, the software upgrade and the other items the $40.5 million will pay for. To follow the approach advocated by the Army and the Star — starting up the incinerator with none of these safety items in place — would be to make our citizens guinea pigs, something Sen. Shelby said last April he would never allow to happen. Thank goodness Richard Shelby is on top of this issue. He deserves an apology from The Star for its “addle-brained” editorial.
