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U.S. Senate Panels OK $360 Million for CW Disposal
U.S. Senate subcommittees yesterday approved bills that would supply $360 million in fiscal 2007 to build two U.S. chemical weapons disposal sites, Senator Mitch McConnell’s office announced yesterday (see GSN, July 5). The amount is $10 million more than requested by the Bush administration for the Blue Grass Army Depot in Kentucky and the Pueblo Chemical Depot in Colorado. The House of Representatives cut the funding request by $40 million, the Lexington Herald-Leader reported today. If the House cuts are sustained, disposal of nerve and blister agents could be delayed by a year, said Craig Williams, director of the Chemical Weapons Working Group. That could cost taxpayers $220 million, due to the need to extend storage and protection of the weapons while full funding for the program is obtained, he said. The Senate Appropriations Committee this week is expected to approve both funding bills, which would then proceed to the full Senate. “This additional funding will help hasten the day when Kentucky citizens no longer have to live with deadly chemical weapons being stored in their midst,” McConnell (R-Ky.) said in a statement (Peter Mathews, Lexington Herald-Leader, July 19). The $360 million would support Army design, construction and equipment testing activities, among other work, at the two sites, the Chemical Weapons Working Group said. Legislative provisions inserted by McConnell would also prevent the funding for Colorado and Kentucky from being diverted to other chemical depots, according to a CWWG release. “This restriction was necessary because in previous years, funds appropriated for [Assembled Chemical Weapons Alternatives] sites have been used to cover skyrocketing costs at other locations,” the group said (Chemical Weapons Working Group release, July 18).
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