Judge rejects request to stop chemical weapons incineration (Alabama)

[DuctapeFatwa]

A federal judge cleared the way Friday for the Army to begin incinerating Cold War-era chemical weapons at a military facility in Alabama, rejecting environmentalists' claims that the process will endanger nearby residents.
U.S. District Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson denied a request from an environmental group for a temporary restraining order to block the startup of the incinerator at the Anniston Army Depot.

The incinerator, located about 50 miles east of Birmingham, would be the nation's first in a populated area. Emergency planners say about 35,000 people live within nine miles of the plant, which under the Army's plan would destroy some 2,254 tons of nerve agents and mustard gas over seven years.

Prior to the hearing, Army spokesman Mike Abrams said that if Jackson sided with the military, trial burns could begin as soon as Saturday.

About 19,000 people who live near the depot have yet to pick up protective hoods, air filters and other gear being distributed in case of an accidental release of nerve agent, and officials still are installing safety equipment at some schools.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2003-08-08-chemweapons-destroy_x.htm


edit to add more background here
http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/nation/ny-uschem043402921aug05,0,7548216.story

She never knows when the seizures will come. Perhaps in mid-sentence, as she is describing the warm, windy morning eight years ago when the first one struck, turning her lively face into a twisted, frozen mask...

Neutralization is favored by environmentalists and is used at some U.S. sites, but Abrams said it was unthinkable for Anniston, whose incinerator was completed in 2001. "It's a matter of what's been spent and a matter of what would have to be spent,"...

The entire incineration is expected to last at least seven years.

"What kind of life are we going to have, sitting in our homes from 6 p.m. to 6 a.m.? We should be able to live our lives the way we want," Porter said before another seizure - the third in 45 minutes - rendered her speechless....

[realFedUp]

1. Not in his backyard

Bet he'd be signing a different judgement if this was in
his or his neighbor's backyards.

[DuctapeFatwa]

2. Atlanta might want to maintain a heightened state of alert

Anniston isn't that far, and nobody really knows what happens when you burn a bunch of nerve gas in a populated area, they've never done it before...

[ozymandius]

3. I was about to say...

This is roughly halfway between Atlanta and Birmingham. If people in Birmingham are upset - so should people in Atlanta. Count me among the pissed-off Atlanta crowd.

[bamademo]

4. Count me in the Pissed Off Huntsville, Al crowd

We're about 125 miles to the north.