Last week’s “Speaker’s Stand ... On emergency preparedness” by Mike Burney, director of the Calhoun County Emergency Management Agency, is a prime example of the misinformation that has been put forth on the chemical stockpile at Anniston Army Depot. I worked at the depot for 28 years in and around the chemical stockpile. The entire time that I worked there we had “leakers.” At that time this information was not given to the general public. Those who had the “need to know” were the only ones privy to that information.
It was only during the talks about building an incinerator to burn the chemical stockpile that this information was “leaked” to the public.
The chemical stockpile, at Anniston Army Depot, was developed and stored at a time when we needed it. OK, so now that it is stored in our back yards not “dumped” as he suggested, what are we going to do about it?
Sarin, a colorless and odorless gas, is 26 times more deadly than cyanide gas and is 20 times more lethal than potassium cyanide. Just a pinprick-sized droplet will kill a human.
The vapor is slightly heavier than air, so it hovers close to the ground. Under wet and humid weather conditions, sarin degrades swiftly, but as the temperature rises up to a certain point, sarin’s lethal duration increases, despite the humidity.
There are four main ways we can protect ourselves against sarin.
The first is physical protection, some way to keep the air you are breathing pure.
The second one is medical protection, pre-treatment before exposure, with drugs to minimize the effects of sarin gas. There can be severe side effects to this as was discovered during the Gulf War.
Detection, the third way is actually being aware when a chemical is released into the atmosphere.
The fourth is decontamination, the destruction of the protective clothing after exposure to sarin gas.
All of the above means practical protection from nerve agents is impractical.
To spend $7 million plus to protect the public from them is an insult to anyone knowledgeable of sarin gas and a waste of taxpayer dollars.
For anyone living in Calhoun County, not knowing about chemical weapons makes you gullible for all sorts of propaganda. Our leaders in Alabama from the congressman to the governor want to spend $7 million to placate the ignorant.
Those who are informed know that in the event of a release of a substantial amount of nerve gas into our atmosphere, will alter our environment, our lives and the lives of our children forever.
To do nothing will have the same dire consequences. We must rid our community of the sarin gas as quickly as possible.
It was a threat 30 years ago and it is still a threat today and will remain a threat until it is destroyed.
We need to realize that the chemical stockpile needs to be destroyed as soon as possible, with the least amount of danger as possible, without alarming the general population, who in most cases, do not know who to believe anymore, about the safety or dangers of the incinerator to burn the chemicals.
Burney’s piece ended “we all hope these weapons are destroyed safely, without incident, but it’s the local people who will suffer most if an accident does occur. They have no protection-much less an attorney.”
There is no protection available. Nothing can protect the good people of Calhoun County in the event of a major “incident.”
There is nothing available to protect them.
Betty J. Conner
Ohatchee
