Lawmakers Demand Faster Chemical Weapons Disposal

A group of U.S. lawmakers last week backed language in a defense bill that would require all chemical weapons at two U.S. Army sites to be destroyed by 2017, the Richmond Register reported yesterday (see GSN, Sept. 19).

Representative Ben Chandler (D-Ky.) requested that the deadline for destroying all chemical weapons at the Blue Grass Army Depot in Kentucky and the Pueblo Chemical Depot in Colorado be included in the fiscal 2008 defense authorization bill.

The deadline was introduced in the Senate version of the bill by Senators Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and Wayne Allard (R-Colo.).  The language is not included in the House legislation, the Chemical Weapons Working Group said.  A conference committee from both houses of Congress must produce a final version for submission to President George W. Bush.

In the letter sent Friday to House Armed Services Committee Chairman Ike Skelton (D-Mo.) and ranking Republican Duncan Hunter (R-Calif.), Chandler noted that the Chemical Weapons Convention calls on states parties to completely eliminate all chemical weapons by 2012.

Blue Grass and Pueblo are expected to be the last U.S. chemical weapons depots to finish disposal, as late as 2023 under current Defense Department estimates.

“The 523 tons of nerve and blister agent at the Blue Grass depot, and the 2,611 tons of mustard [agent] at the Pueblo (Colo.) depot pose serious risks as the Cold War-era weapons continue to age becoming less stable and serve as terrorist targets,” Chandler wrote.  “Not only would a shorter deadline help protect these communities, but it would also save taxpayers about $3.3 billion.”

Chandler called the proposed 2017 deadline “absolutely essential for the safe disposal of dangerous chemical weapons on American soil.  We are urging conferees to include this critical language in the final bill.”

The letter was signed by Representatives John Salazar (D-Colo.), Geoff Davis (R-Ky.), Harold Rogers, (R-Ky.), Ron Lewis (R-Ky.), Ed Whitfield (R-Ky.), Mark Udall (D-Colo.), Diana DeGette, (D-Colo.), Marilyn Musgrave (R-Colo.) and John Yarmuth (D-Ky.)

A pilot disposal plant now being constructed at the Blue Grass Army Depot has to date cost about $43 million, according to information on the project released in October.

Builders have completed the site’s plumbing and sewer systems, perimeter fencing, access road and roadway concrete, security vehicle barrier and control building, temporary electrical substation and other related utilities (Ronica Shannon, Richmond Register, Oct. 24).

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