Senators Urge Accelerated Chemical Weapons Disposal

Four U.S. senators have charged the Defense Department with neglecting destruction of chemical weapons in Colorado and Kentucky while they introduced a measure to speed up the process, the Associated Press reported yesterday (see GSN, June 14).

“DOD has been stonewalling for years and it is time for them to produce results,” said Senator Jim Bunning (R-Ky.).

Chemical weapons disposal plants have yet to be built at the Blue Grass Army Depot in Kentucky and the Pueblo Chemical Depot in Colorado.  The current schedule has operations beginning in 2014 at both sites, with weapons disposal ending in 2020 at Pueblo and 2023 at Blue Grass.

Facilities at all other U.S. chemical storage sites have begun or completed their work.

Legislation sponsored by Colorado and Kentucky’s senators seeks $49.3 million in extra funds for chemical weapons disposal and would set a 2017 deadline for the destruction of the U.S. stockpile.  It also would require biannual updates from the Pentagon, the AP reported.

“It’s a kick in the pants that I think the Pentagon needs in order to get the Kentucky stockpile on a reasonable course for disposal,” said Craig Williams, director of the Kentucky-based watchdog Chemical Weapons Working Group.

The Defense Department “has consistently failed to provide sufficient funding for this program, and thus delayed the destruction of chemical weapons on site,” said Senator Wayne Allard (R-Colo.) (Bruce Schreiner, Associated Press/Colorado Springs Gazette, July 11).

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