I’ve been following with interest the developments in Alabama concerning the chemical weapons incinerator and the concern over public safety. Here in Utah, we started with nearly half the nation’s stockpile of chemical weapons. We still have more than 14.7 million pounds of the lethal agents to destroy even though the entire stockpile was supposed to be destroyed by the end of next year. Serious schedule delays have now pushed that timeline to at least 2008.
One of the major problems came with the gelling of nerve agent. This caused tremendous slow-downs, disruptions in operations, equipment malfunctions, and nerve agent releases. The Army told us in 1996 that our stockpile of 29,000 rockets would be destroyed within six months. It took more than 5 years. Alabama has over 42,000 rockets. How long will that take?
Who can blame residents for wanting to protect their families from the risks that these nerve agents pose? Gov. Siegelman and local residents are right to demand maximum protection. The best way to do that is not by having the Army order everyone gas masks. It is by requiring the Army to do what made sense decades ago — neutralize the agents instead of trying to incinerate them.
If you want to get rid of the chemical weapons stockpile safely and efficiently, you have a much better option than incineration. It’s called neutralization.
Jason Groenewold
Director
Families Against Incinerator Risk
Salt Lake City, Utah
Gas Masks
During the Gulf War the Israelis attempted to equip everyone with a gas mask. They eventually quit trying because people would not carry them at all times, men wouldn’t shave their beards, people would forget to change the canisters, etc. There is no reason to expect residents of Calhoun County to be different. The gas mask will be like an umbrella; where is the umbrella when it starts to rain, in the car. For those that want a gas mask, they should try driving a car while wearing a gas mask. A gas mask is about the most frustrating device known to mankind.
Let’s forget about the gas masks! Over-pressuring schools may be an effective way to protect the large number of children in a school providing that someone doesn’t open a door.
The real issue is not protection but MONEY. The governor and the county commission think they can hijack the feds by holding the incinerator hostage until they get lots of money.
Kenneth Roy
Anniston
A message?
Attorney General Ashcroft has spent $8,000 of our tax dollars to place curtains over two statues in the Justice Department building. Ashcroft proclaimed that these 20 foot tall, 70 year old aluminum statues, one representing a female “Spirit of Justice,” the other a male “Majesty of Law,” were too scantily clad for his moral compass.These are likely just the first of numerous obfuscations of classic art by promoters of the new federalized faith. Other projects will draw mixed reviews, however.
Religious conservatives in Birmingham would surely applaud the idea that the reconstructed Vulcan wear boxer shorts. But residents of New York might be less than pleased with a burka on the Statue of Liberty.
At the same time that the government is forcing religious displays in its buildings, symbols of liberty and justice are being obscured or removed. Is there a message here?
Olga Cornelius
Hoover
