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CNN Live Sunday
Army Begins Incineration of Chemicals in Anniston, Alabama
Aired August 10, 2003 - 10:32 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Here at home, more demolition. Just 24 hours ago, the first of hundreds of containers holding chemical weapons was destroyed. Workers are expected to demolish more today. The U.S. Army says everything went flawlessly yesterday. Anniston Depot holds more than 2,000 tons of chemicals.
And the U.S. Army says it is doing all it can to ensure the safety of Anniston. Mike Abrams is the public affairs officer for the Army depot, and he's on the phone with us from Anniston.
Mr. Abrams, how did things go yesterday?
MIKE ABRAMS, ANNISTON FACILITY SPOKESMAN: As you said, Fredricka, everything went flawlessly, and yesterday was the first day of our operation to destroy more than hundreds of thousands of chemical containers and weapons stored at Anniston since 1961.
WHITFIELD: Well, if there is no danger -- and I know based on our conversation yesterday, you mentioned that all precautions have been made to ensure the safety of people -- then why were so many residents distributed or handed out gas masks and other emergency equipment?
ABRAMS: That's a good question, Fredricka, one I address frequently when I talk to members of the community. We have federal -- we have parallel missions at Anniston Army depot. We have to safely store the chemical weapons until we can safely and irreversibly destroy them in our facility.
The hoods and filters are being distributed to provide the community with some additional safety measures while we continue to store the weapons in igloos on Anniston Army depot.
WHITFIELD: And was it your feeling that most of these residents who have been handed this kind of equipment have felt fairly reassured?
ABRAMS: As I have a chance to talk to groups or to people individual, I feel very confident that they understand that we are doing everything we can to safely destroy the weapons as well as to safely store the weapons, and more and more people understand what we have as a mission and they are very, very supportive.
WHITFIELD: Now seven years has been the projected time. Is that still correct? And if so, that seems like an awful lot of time for people to live with the unknown. ABRAMS: Well, we've been living with the unknown since 1961. What we think is that is that seven years compared to the 40 years that we've had the weapons is just a fraction of time, and every day that we operate is another safer day for this community, and seven years is not unreasonable because we do have hundreds of thousands of weapons that we do have to safely destroy.
WHITFIELD: You all have said the testing went along flawlessly yesterday. This testing will continue for quite some time. To help reassure the residents in that area, will any sort of arbitrary respiratory tests be taken of the residents just to make sure that there really are no lasting or lingering effects from the steam that is emitting from this incinerator?
ABRAMS: That might be a good idea under some circumstances but probably not this one. The United States does not have the authority to randomly select people and do medical tests.
WHITFIELD: Well, why not...
ABRAMS: What we do have...
WHITFIELD: ... offer that to the residents there so that they can perhaps make that determination?
ABRAMS: Well, what we'd like to point out to folks is that we have been safely incinerating weapons for 13 years, and there have been no respiratory issues since that time.
More importantly, some 30 years ago, we did the incineration of some 3,000 tons of material at Rocky Mountain Arsenal near Denver, Colorado, and, to this day, there are still no respiratory issues.
We have done a number of studies that indicate that the storage of chemical weapons is 34 times more risky than the incineration of those same weapons.
We've got a very safe plan. We don't have to invade the privacy of individuals at home or in some non-descript doctor's office.
WHITFIELD: How in -- or if -- any way does weather the dissemination of any kind of potential fumes or this steam?
ABRAMS: Well, first of all, keep in mind that we do not see any chemical agent coming out of the exhaust stack in Anniston. We've got steam, air, and carbon dioxide.
And if there is any sort of weather, such as a very bad thunderstorm, we would analyze what that risk might do to the safe operation, not that we can't operate in bad weather, but we don't want to do anything that might put an additional risk, such as you would not go out and play golf when there's lightning dancing around the course.
But, if there is a lot of wind, if there is a lot of rain, if there was a problem with weapons in storage, that would defeat the possible plume and even keep it closer to where the accident might have occurred with weapons in storage.
WHITFIELD: All right. Mike Abrams of the Anniston facility in Alabama. Thanks very much for joining us on the telephone.
Well, the U.S. Army's incineration project in eastern Alabama city -- in that eastern Alabama city, rather, has been a fairly serious concern for some people who live in the area.
One of them, a retired school teacher who blames her poor health on a chemical leak at the facility eight years ago. But others say storing the chemicals is worse than burning them.
Reporter Alan Collins with our affiliate WBRC is monitoring the local reaction.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ARAMETTA PORTER, FORMER SCHOOLTEACHER: I feel like I've been betrayed.
ALAN COLLINS, WBRC-TV REPORTER (voice-over): Life has not been easy for 55-year-old Arametta Porter. The former schoolteacher says she has been exposed to chemicals that leaked from the Anniston Army depot back in 1995. Ever since then, she's had health problems.
PORTER: Nerve movement under my eye constantly. My tongue on the left side is numb just like if you go to a dentist.
COLLINS: Porter says she left Anniston on Friday, fearful of a gas leak during the test burn. She could not even use a hood for protection because she is so sensitive to the material the hood is made of.
PORTER: I wouldn't want another individual to have to live with what I live with daily.
COLLINS: Not everyone in Anniston, though, is fearful of the chemical incineration, especially those who live nearby the Army depot.
BETHANY CARTER, ANNISTON RESIDENT: I just feel like they know what they're doing, and I just trust them.
COLLINS: But Porter is not so trusting. She will stay with her sister in Pell City for a time. She does not know when she will be able to return home in Anniston.
PORTER: No. No, I don't.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WHITFIELD: And that report from Alan Collins with our affiliate WBRC.
And as you heard from the spokesperson with the U.S. Army depot there, weather sometimes does play a role, but they assure people in that area that no one should feel that they are at any greater risk as a result of.
And you've been keeping a watch, however, on the weather conditions in that area.
JACQUI JERAS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes. Well, a lot of people are interested in the winds because, you know, everybody has their own concerns. Some people believe it. Some people think that wind could be blowing their direction, and they're not real happy with that. So we want to let you what you an expect weatherwise across that area for today.
And overall right now, conditions at Anniston are very calm. We've got 76 degrees. There is literally just about no wind. So there's not going to be a lot of movement over the next hour or so. We have very calm conditions.
And there's a lot of moisture in the atmosphere, a lot of humidity, and so if there were -- I'm not implying -- I don't want to give that impression, but, if there were any kind of chemical in the air, it actually kind of gets diluted a little bit by that amount of humidity that we have in the air for today.
Now, as for the wind direction, over in the eastern parts of Georgia, we have an area of low pressure, and the winds flow counterclockwise around areas of low pressure. So winds are generally going to be to the Northwest.
But, overall, this is a pretty weak low, so winds will only be about five to 10 miles per hour. So Birmingham, big city out to the west, should not be affected throughout that region, and Atlanta I think will be fine as well. It will be pushing down to the South and East of the burning site.
WHITFIELD: All right. Thanks a lot, Jacqui.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Alabama>
Aired August 10, 2003 - 10:32 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Here at home, more demolition. Just 24 hours ago, the first of hundreds of containers holding chemical weapons was destroyed. Workers are expected to demolish more today. The U.S. Army says everything went flawlessly yesterday. Anniston Depot holds more than 2,000 tons of chemicals.
And the U.S. Army says it is doing all it can to ensure the safety of Anniston. Mike Abrams is the public affairs officer for the Army depot, and he's on the phone with us from Anniston.
Mr. Abrams, how did things go yesterday?
MIKE ABRAMS, ANNISTON FACILITY SPOKESMAN: As you said, Fredricka, everything went flawlessly, and yesterday was the first day of our operation to destroy more than hundreds of thousands of chemical containers and weapons stored at Anniston since 1961.
WHITFIELD: Well, if there is no danger -- and I know based on our conversation yesterday, you mentioned that all precautions have been made to ensure the safety of people -- then why were so many residents distributed or handed out gas masks and other emergency equipment?
ABRAMS: That's a good question, Fredricka, one I address frequently when I talk to members of the community. We have federal -- we have parallel missions at Anniston Army depot. We have to safely store the chemical weapons until we can safely and irreversibly destroy them in our facility.
The hoods and filters are being distributed to provide the community with some additional safety measures while we continue to store the weapons in igloos on Anniston Army depot.
WHITFIELD: And was it your feeling that most of these residents who have been handed this kind of equipment have felt fairly reassured?
ABRAMS: As I have a chance to talk to groups or to people individual, I feel very confident that they understand that we are doing everything we can to safely destroy the weapons as well as to safely store the weapons, and more and more people understand what we have as a mission and they are very, very supportive.
WHITFIELD: Now seven years has been the projected time. Is that still correct? And if so, that seems like an awful lot of time for people to live with the unknown. ABRAMS: Well, we've been living with the unknown since 1961. What we think is that is that seven years compared to the 40 years that we've had the weapons is just a fraction of time, and every day that we operate is another safer day for this community, and seven years is not unreasonable because we do have hundreds of thousands of weapons that we do have to safely destroy.
WHITFIELD: You all have said the testing went along flawlessly yesterday. This testing will continue for quite some time. To help reassure the residents in that area, will any sort of arbitrary respiratory tests be taken of the residents just to make sure that there really are no lasting or lingering effects from the steam that is emitting from this incinerator?
ABRAMS: That might be a good idea under some circumstances but probably not this one. The United States does not have the authority to randomly select people and do medical tests.
WHITFIELD: Well, why not...
ABRAMS: What we do have...
WHITFIELD: ... offer that to the residents there so that they can perhaps make that determination?
ABRAMS: Well, what we'd like to point out to folks is that we have been safely incinerating weapons for 13 years, and there have been no respiratory issues since that time.
More importantly, some 30 years ago, we did the incineration of some 3,000 tons of material at Rocky Mountain Arsenal near Denver, Colorado, and, to this day, there are still no respiratory issues.
We have done a number of studies that indicate that the storage of chemical weapons is 34 times more risky than the incineration of those same weapons.
We've got a very safe plan. We don't have to invade the privacy of individuals at home or in some non-descript doctor's office.
WHITFIELD: How in -- or if -- any way does weather the dissemination of any kind of potential fumes or this steam?
ABRAMS: Well, first of all, keep in mind that we do not see any chemical agent coming out of the exhaust stack in Anniston. We've got steam, air, and carbon dioxide.
And if there is any sort of weather, such as a very bad thunderstorm, we would analyze what that risk might do to the safe operation, not that we can't operate in bad weather, but we don't want to do anything that might put an additional risk, such as you would not go out and play golf when there's lightning dancing around the course.
But, if there is a lot of wind, if there is a lot of rain, if there was a problem with weapons in storage, that would defeat the possible plume and even keep it closer to where the accident might have occurred with weapons in storage.
WHITFIELD: All right. Mike Abrams of the Anniston facility in Alabama. Thanks very much for joining us on the telephone.
Well, the U.S. Army's incineration project in eastern Alabama city -- in that eastern Alabama city, rather, has been a fairly serious concern for some people who live in the area.
One of them, a retired school teacher who blames her poor health on a chemical leak at the facility eight years ago. But others say storing the chemicals is worse than burning them.
Reporter Alan Collins with our affiliate WBRC is monitoring the local reaction.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ARAMETTA PORTER, FORMER SCHOOLTEACHER: I feel like I've been betrayed.
ALAN COLLINS, WBRC-TV REPORTER (voice-over): Life has not been easy for 55-year-old Arametta Porter. The former schoolteacher says she has been exposed to chemicals that leaked from the Anniston Army depot back in 1995. Ever since then, she's had health problems.
PORTER: Nerve movement under my eye constantly. My tongue on the left side is numb just like if you go to a dentist.
COLLINS: Porter says she left Anniston on Friday, fearful of a gas leak during the test burn. She could not even use a hood for protection because she is so sensitive to the material the hood is made of.
PORTER: I wouldn't want another individual to have to live with what I live with daily.
COLLINS: Not everyone in Anniston, though, is fearful of the chemical incineration, especially those who live nearby the Army depot.
BETHANY CARTER, ANNISTON RESIDENT: I just feel like they know what they're doing, and I just trust them.
COLLINS: But Porter is not so trusting. She will stay with her sister in Pell City for a time. She does not know when she will be able to return home in Anniston.
PORTER: No. No, I don't.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WHITFIELD: And that report from Alan Collins with our affiliate WBRC.
And as you heard from the spokesperson with the U.S. Army depot there, weather sometimes does play a role, but they assure people in that area that no one should feel that they are at any greater risk as a result of.
And you've been keeping a watch, however, on the weather conditions in that area.
JACQUI JERAS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes. Well, a lot of people are interested in the winds because, you know, everybody has their own concerns. Some people believe it. Some people think that wind could be blowing their direction, and they're not real happy with that. So we want to let you what you an expect weatherwise across that area for today.
And overall right now, conditions at Anniston are very calm. We've got 76 degrees. There is literally just about no wind. So there's not going to be a lot of movement over the next hour or so. We have very calm conditions.
And there's a lot of moisture in the atmosphere, a lot of humidity, and so if there were -- I'm not implying -- I don't want to give that impression, but, if there were any kind of chemical in the air, it actually kind of gets diluted a little bit by that amount of humidity that we have in the air for today.
Now, as for the wind direction, over in the eastern parts of Georgia, we have an area of low pressure, and the winds flow counterclockwise around areas of low pressure. So winds are generally going to be to the Northwest.
But, overall, this is a pretty weak low, so winds will only be about five to 10 miles per hour. So Birmingham, big city out to the west, should not be affected throughout that region, and Atlanta I think will be fine as well. It will be pushing down to the South and East of the burning site.
WHITFIELD: All right. Thanks a lot, Jacqui.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Alabama>
