Congress to Hold Defense Department to Chemical Weapons Disposal Schedule, U.S. Lawmaker Says

U.S. Senator Ken Salazar (D-Colo.) said Monday that Congress would work to ensure that the Defense Department meets the new 2017 deadline to eliminate its arsenal of chemical weapons, the Pueblo Chieftain reported (see GSN, Jan. 15).

Lawmakers set the new schedule last year in the fiscal 2008 defense appropriations bill.  The Pentagon has estimated that chemical demilitarization would not be finished until 2023.

Congress intends to provide adequate funding and pressure to meet the earlier deadline, said Salazar, who on Monday toured the Pueblo Chemical Depot (see GSN, Feb. 5).

“We need to get the process up and running,” he said.  “I think that pressure will continue and we will make sure we get the job done.”

A total of 780,000 munitions filled with 2,611 tons of mustard agent are stored at the Pueblo Chemical Depot.  The facility and the Blue Grass Army Depot in Kentucky are scheduled to be the last sites to finish off their chemical stockpiles.

Salazar and two other Colorado lawmakers last week submitted legislation requiring that wastewater produced by the chemical neutralization process be treated at Pueblo rather than an off-site location (John Norton, Pueblo Chieftain I, Feb. 19).

“By moving ahead with on-site treatment of hydrolysate, DOD will be better able to meet its legal obligation to complete chemical weapons destruction by 2017,” Salazar said Friday.

The Pentagon has said it would save $150 million by relocating 8.4 million gallons of waste for treatment and that the material should not be considered a danger during transport, the Chieftain reported.  A citizens’ advisory commission has countered that the plan could face challenges from jurisdictions along the transport route that might increase costs and further delay weapons disposal.  It has argued for construction of an on-site facility (John Norton, Pueblo Chieftain II, Feb. 16).

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