Tri-City Herald

Published 4/26/01
Weapons destruction lags behind

WASHINGTON - The United States lags far behind schedule in destruction of its
chemical weapon stockpiles and will be unable to meet a 2007 deadline set by
an international treaty, according to an internal Army memo.

The memo, made public Wednesday by the watchdog organization Chemical Weapons
Working Group, said the country could require up to 11 extra years to rid
itself of all the weapons.

Marilyn Daughdrill, spokeswoman for the Army's Program Manager for Chemical
Demilitarization, verified the memo's authenticity but said it represents a
worst-case scenario.

"We still believe the 2007 deadlines are achievable," she said.

Congress ordered the military to begin destroying America's 31,496 tons of
nerve agents, mustard gas and other chemical weapons in 1986. In 1997, the
Senate ratified the international Chemical Weapons Convention, which demands
that all such weapons to be destroyed by 2007. Countries are allowed to seek
five-year extensions.

In the Northwest, the Army is building a massive incinerator at the depot just
outside of Hermiston to burn the 7.4 million pounds of deadly nerve and
mustard agents stored there.

About 22 percent of U.S. weapons have been destroyed so far, according to the
Army.

A report last year by the General Accounting Office, the investigative arm of
Congress, faulted the Army's management of the $15 billion chemical weapons
destruction program. The GAO also found the United States probably would not
meet the 2007 deadline.

Although construction of the Umatilla Chemical Depot's incinerator is nearly
complete, the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality says testing of the
facility likely will be delayed at least six months and incineration isn't
likely to start before 2003.

Last May, at an incinerator in Tooele, Utah, a small drop of the deadly nerve
agent sarin leaked from a smokestack. When inhaled, sarin constricts the lungs
and can halt breathing. Though no one was injured in Tooele, the incident
focus attention on the dangers of the weapons destruction program.

At a Senate Appropriations defense subcommittee hearing Wednesday, lawmakers
questioned the Army's acting secretary, Joseph Westphal, about the risks to
residents living near chemical weapons stockpiles.

Sen. Richard Shelby, R-Ala., said the program is making "guinea pigs" out of
residents of Anniston, Ala., where one of the stockpiles is located. Anniston
residents have been given survival kits that include plastic sheets and duct
tape to be used to cover windows if a leak is detected.

The Appropriations Committee chairman, GOP Sen. Ted Stevens of Alaska, said
the Army's pledge of "no deaths" rather than "no exposure" concerns many in
Congress. He promised to find money in the budget that communities near
chemical stockpiles can use for evacuation plans.

"This is an enormous risk that I didn't realize people would be exposed to,"
Stevens said.

Westphal assured the committee the Army is committed to the safe destruction
of the weapons but acknowledged a perception that the program has safety
problems.

"We do have an exhaustive chain of command that works, but we need to make it
clearer to communities," he said.