US judge rejects effort to block nerve agent destruction

WASHINGTON (AFP) Aug 08, 2003
A US federal judge Friday rejected a plea by environmental groups to block the army's plans to incinerate chemical weapons at a base in the southern state of Alabama, court records showed.

US District Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson said the plaintiffs had not proved that destruction of the weapons at the army's Anniston, Alabama, weapons depot would pose a significant hazard to those living nearby, said a spokesman for one of the groups.

The weapons at issue include M-55 rockets containing the nerve agent Sarin.

Craig Williams, director of the Chemical Weapons Working Group, said by telephone from his office in Berea, Kentucky, that his and other environmental groups, as well as concerned Anniston residents, would seek other means of blocking the weapons incineration.

In March, the activist group sued to block incineration of the weapons, which must be destroyed by 2007 under an international convention.

Had Jackson ruled in their favor, the injunction could have delayed start of the destruction for years.

WAR.WIRE