|
|||||
|
|||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|||||
 |
 |
    |
|
|
|||
 |
|
||
|
|||
|
|
|
|
||||||||
|
U.S. Senators Ask Defense Department to Lift Funding Caps for CW Destruction Sites
Four U.S. senators have asked Defense Undersecretary Kenneth Krieg to lift cost ceilings for planned chemical weapons disposal sites in Colorado and Kentucky, arguing that outdated cost estimates could jeopardize safety at the facilities and the success of their work, the Associated Press reported Saturday (see GSN, April 20). “The path forward in execution of safe and expeditious disposal of the stockpiles at these two locations is in jeopardy due to this fundamental flaw in the process,” Senators Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), Jim Bunning (R-Ky.), Wayne Allard (R-Colo.) and Ken Salazar (D-Colo.) wrote in a letter to Krieg. In 2003, the Defense Department estimated it would cost $2 billion to eliminate chemical weapons stored at Kentucky’s Blue Grass Army Depot and $1.5 billion to destroy munitions at Colorado’s Pueblo Chemical Depot. As price estimates have increased, the Pentagon has refused to lift the caps, instead asking site managers to cut costs at the facilities, according to AP. McConnell, in an April letter to Krieg’s predecessor, said locking in costs before work began “seems … misguided at best” (Hilary Roxe, Associated Press/WKYT, June 18).
| ||||||||||
Back to top
