Government Will Buy Gas Masks for Residents Near Incinerator

Date: March 28, 2002

Source: News Room

The federal government will pay for gas mask-like safety gear for as many as 35,000 people who live near an incinerator where the Army intends to burn deadly nerve gas. Gov. Don Siegelman's office said that the protective hoods, which function like gas masks but are simpler to use, would be distributed under an agreement reached in a lawsuit over the chemical weapons incinerator. But the Federal Emergency Management Agency denied the agreement was linked to the lawsuit. Siegelman filed the suit last month to halt operation of the $1 billion incinerator. Siegelman spokesman Rip Andrews said the state would withdraw its request that a judge block the opening of the incinerator in return for the government's pledge to provide $7 million for the gear and training. The Army plans to begin test burns of nerve gas in September. An estimated 75,000 people live within about nine miles of the incinerator at Anniston Army Depot, situated about 60 miles east of Birmingham.

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