News arrived from Washington last week that the Bush Administration had handed a failing grade to the Army program that is in charge of destroying chemical weapons.Significant delays in destruction of the stockpiles around the nation, the administration said in its budget request to Congress, have been caused by concerns over public safety.
Well, tell us about it. From the beginning of this process, at least in Calhoun County, it seems federal, state and local officials have been in a tangle over how best to protect this community in the event of an incident or accident at the chemical weapons stockpile at the Anniston Army Depot. We should have had protective measures in place and a public information campaign up and running a couple of decades ago and we’re still struggling with it.
Money has long been the root of the problem and was illustrated as recently as this week when Washington bureaucrats still hadn’t sent forward $5 million in funds.
While the administration had some valid points in its assessment, we would like to stress that significant progress is being made. Money and materials are coming in, the public information campaign is under way and, perhaps more importantly, a better understanding and better relationship seems to be taking hold between local and state officials and federal officials.
That’s good, because the stockpile is old and leaking, and after Sept. 11 we should all understand that the unthinkable can happen.
So the best thing to do is to get rid of this deadly material as quickly and as safely as humanly possible. What we cannot do is continue to let it sit there, to let it fester. It not only presents a danger, it tarnishes the image of the community and stifles our economic growth.
So this new cooperation and rapport we see emerging is going to be an enormous help towards eventually solving the problem, getting rid of the weapons.
We watch closely to see if the administration is as harsh on the program next year as it was this year. But from the way things are shaping up, we’d be surprised if Calhoun County’s program gets the failing grade again.
