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Senate Locks in Money for Blue Grass, Pueblo
Funding guarantees for developing chemical weapons disposal facilities in Kentucky and Colorado are included in a spending measure passed yesterday by the U.S. Senate, the Associated Press reported (see GSN, May 2). The spending package bars the Defense Department from reallocating $813.4 million designated for the planned weapons neutralization sites at Pueblo, Colo., and Blue Grass, Ky. It also requires the Defense Department to spend at least $100 million at the facilities within four months of the law taking effect. Under the proposal, the Pentagon would have to provide spending reports to Congress every two months and cannot explore options for transporting nerve agents from the facilities (Associated Press, May 10). House lawmakers are also requesting information on possible impacts on Blue Grass and Pueblo from the planned transfer of the Assembled Chemical Weapons Alternatives program from the Office of the Defense Secretary to the Army Chemical Materials Agency. The alternatives program was established to develop and use options other than eliminating weapons stored at the two sites. Representatives Ben Chandler (D-Ky.) and John Salazar (D-Colo.) have concerns over budgetary issues, management structure, impact on site schedules and Chemical Materials Agency authority (Chemical Weapons Working Group release, May 10). Meanwhile, sarin nerve agent was found leaking from a munition stored at the Blue Grass Army Depot, the Associated Press reported Army officials called the leak “routine” and said it posed no public danger. Depot spokesman Richard Sloan said a small amount of sarin was detected Tuesday inside a storage igloo. Contaminated air was being removed by a filtering machine. This was the first sarin leak at the facility since 2000, and the first chemical weapon leak since 2003 (Associated Press/Yahoo!News, May 11).
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