The Anniston Chemical Agent Disposal System has completed the destruction of all of its VX nerve agent (originally about 828 tons). It only has mustard agent left (about 980 tons) at the Anniston Army Depot now.
The depot's chemical weapons incinerator burned the final land mine loaded with VX nerve agent less than 5 1/2 years after it began destroying a total of about 293,000 gallons of deadly VX and another nerve agent, sarin.
The last of the sarin was destroyed in 2006.
The munitions were stored for nearly five decades in dirt-covered bunkers on the sprawling installation. The depot is home to the nation's only chemical weapons incinerator located in a populated area.
Thousands of projectiles, mortars and large containers filled with less-lethal mustard agent are the only remaining chemical weapons stored on the post, located in Calhoun County about 50 miles east of Birmingham.
While mustard agent can cause blistering and burns, it is far less dangerous than chemicals like VX and sarin that affect the nervous system.
"It's a good Christmas gift for all of Calhoun County, good holiday cheer that we don't have to worry about those chemical weapons anymore," Anniston Mayor Gene Robinson said. "The mustard gas is totally different from the nerve gas, so the threat to the population of this county is over."
Because the Anniston destruction effort has been relatively smooth, it should easily complete its disposal of its stockpile by the 2012 deadline. I do feel compelled to point out that the citizens of Calhoon County received about 1/3 of all the Army's Chemical Stockpile Emergency Preparedness Program's (CSEPP) funds that went to the states, which means roughly a half billion dollars of equipment, training, and road rebuilding went into the county to prepare the locals for a catastrophe that never happened. Anniston's stockpile was only seven percent of the total US chemical weapons stockpile, but it did have a larger community around it than other chemical depots. The locals were never seriously endangered by the chemical disposal operations, but they had a powerful senator who lobbied hard for their pork.
The two linked article include quotes by incineration foe Craig Williams to the point that destroying the mustard agent will be very hazardous for Alabama's citizens. Feel free to ignore his biased and scientifically-unsupported comments - every one else outside of the news media does
In a very articulate speech last weekend, Obama promised that under his administration, we will base US policy on science rather than on dogma. However, I'm not sure that Obama's transition team has encountered the likes of CWWG, GASP, and the moronic Pueblo, Colorado CAC. It will be interesting to watch the on-site/off-site waste disposal discussions regarding Pueblo. If science and sensibility really do become the watchwords of the administration, people in both Colorado and Kentucky should start looking for new jobs elsewhere -- the days of unrelenting pork in support of fear-mongering and unscientific crap will be over.
Posted by: Ann Gaothin | 27 December 2008 at 08:24 AM
And just who are you, Ms. Ann Gaothin, to be accusing folks of being moronic?
Posted by: Craig Williams | 16 April 2009 at 04:15 PM
You'll have to forgive Ann, Craig, you see, she tends to just blurt out facts when she sees the self-destructive activities of demil critics. You know, insisting to keep aging and corroding chemical weapons around for decades in the false hope that pixie dust will be invented some day to eliminate these weapons, while insisting on millions of dollars in federal aid for work efforts not directly related to the destruction of said munitions.
She's really a very silly woman, that Ann.
Posted by: J. | 16 April 2009 at 04:36 PM