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Chemical Weapons Depots Slated for Closure
The U.S. Base Realignment and Closure Commission yesterday recommended closing two U.S. chemical weapons facilities after workers finish destroying stockpiles at the sites, the Associated Press reported (see GSN, May 16). The Newport Chemical Depot in Indiana and the Umatilla Chemical Depot in Oregon should close once weapon destruction at the facilities is completed, according to the commission. The panel also recommended shuttering the Deseret Chemical Depot in Utah, but called for a study first to see if the facility could be converted for other use, according to AP (Associated Press I/Yahoo!News, Aug. 25). The commission is set to submit its base recommendations to President George W. Bush on Sept. 8. Bush must accept or reject the list by Sept. 23, AP reported. The vote on Deseret overruled the Defense Department recommendation to close the facility. The study will explore whether Deseret could be used to destroy conventional weapons, as pushed for by the four Republican members of Utah’s congressional delegation. For this conversion to occur, Congress would have to change a law that requires the plant be closed once chemical weapons destruction is complete, according to AP. “The commissioners accepted our recommendation to push back the closing date of Deseret and are exploring other ways to use the facility,” said Senator Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) (Mark Thiessen, Associated Press II/Daily Herald, Aug. 24). A commission member said yesterday that the recommendation to close Umatilla was welcome, AP reported. “This is one of those places where everybody wants it to close,” said James Bilbray. Senator Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) said the recommendation “means that the Defense Department can focus on safeguarding and permanently cleaning up the chemicals stored in eastern Oregon” (William McCall, Associated Press III/KATU 2, Aug. 24). An analyst told the commission yesterday that destruction of chemical weapons at the Newport facility might take longer than originally expected, moving back the closing date, AP reported. The Army has estimated that weapons disposal would be complete by 2008. George Delgado, an analyst who studied the recommendation to close the facility, said destruction of VX nerve agent could be completed as late as 2012. It could take an additional three years to close the base, he said. Newport spokeswoman Terry Arthur said yesterday that the VX could be destroyed by late 2008, with the base closing by 2010. “It’s a very loose timeline at this point because everything is contingent on the destruction of the VX and the ultimate disposition of the wastewater,” she said (Charles Wilson, Associated Press IV, Aug. 24).
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