(The following is excerpted from "Chemical Weapons Disposal and
Environmental Justice" written by Suzanne Marshall PhD. and published by
the Kentucky Environmental Foundation, November, 1996, with funding from the
Educational Foundation of America.)
The Pueblo Army Depot, which began as an ammunition storage and supply site in 1942,
is located east of Pueblo, Colorado, a city with a population of 98,640--40% Latino-
American--in the county of Pueblo with a population of 123,051. The communities closest
to the Depot are North Avondale, Avondale and Boone, all of which have been declining as
the depot has reduced employment. The two more populous communities--North
Avondale and Avondale--have a population of 2,350--37% Latino-American. Boone, an
incorporated city, has just 338 residents--43% Latino-American, with an additional influx
of approximately 1,000 migrant workers each spring and summer, nearly all of whom are
Latino Americans from Texas and the Mexican border region. Significantly, all of the
communities have a high percentage of Latino Americans--four to five times that of the US
national average of 8.81% (Bureau of the Census, 1990; Bradbury, et al. 1994, Appendix
F), who have been victims of pollution historically .
Poverty exists at high levels in Pueblo County compared to the US national average of
13.12%. About 20% of Pueblo County citizens live below the poverty level (Bureau of the
Census, 1990). Many of the poor are Latino Americans, including the transient population
of migrant farm workers. These people often rely on fishing for a significant food source,
a source very susceptible to pollutants from industry and military toxics.
The history of the depot is one of boom and bust. In 1942 the US Army Corps of
Engineers built the depot on cattle grazing land. Following World War II, in 1948, the
depot added to its duties maintenance and overhaul of artillery, renovation and
demilitarization of ammunition, among other things. However, since the Korean War
employment has continually decreased despite some activity during Desert Storm. In the
early l970s nearly 3,000 people worked at the depot. In 1988 the depot was scheduled to
close and by 1990 the number of employees had dropped to 598. In 1994 the employees
numbered only about 200, kept to maintain the chemical weapons. The community must
deal with a stockpile which makes the potential for base re-use difficult and with a disposal
technology that is unsafe and unhealthy. The depot site is also contaminated by a landfill
made up of destroyed mustard gas bombs, an industrial disposal ditch, TNT pollutants and
buried non-stockpile chemical weapons. Ground water has already been contaminated by
some of these sources and remediation is in the works. Portions of the depot should be
added to the Superfund National Priorities List because they are so polluted that they need
immeadiate clean-up. Historically, since World War II, the people of this region have been
subject to dangerous pollutants and continue to be threatened (Bradbury, et al. 1994,
Appendix F).
The region surrounding the Pueblo Army Depot is a rural prairie cut through by the
Arkansas River, which is used for agricultural irrigation for such crops as vegetables,
melons, winter wheat, corn, sorghum, beans and hay. Farming constitutes about 30% of
the regional income and cattle ranching produces 70% (Bradbury, et al. 1994, Appendix
F). The foods and animals raised in the area will be negatively affected by the emissions of
toxins from the incinerators' stack. Because pollutants such as dioxins accumulate as they
progress through the food chain, both Coloradans near the incinerator and people anywhere
who consume these foods will suffer harm. The agricultural workers, including the
migrant laborers, will be doubly at risk as they work the fields and eat the foods.
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