Tue, Mar. 9, 2004

Senator tries to block Army study
Thursday, Jan 27, 2005

By Alison Vekshin
Stephens Washington Bureau
WASHINGTON -- A Colorado senator on Wednesday introduced a bill blocking the U.S. Army from moving forward with a study to transport aging chemical weapons across state lines to be destroyed at sites like the Pine Bluff Arsenal.

The bill, authored by Sen. Wayne Allard, R-Colo., bars the Defense Department from spending any money on the idea.

Senators from Kentucky, Alabama and Colorado, states where the Army presently stores chemical agents, co-sponsored the bill.

Senators from Arkansas, where the Pine Bluff Arsenal holds 12 percent of the nation's chemical weapons stockpile, did not support the bill.

"My initial inclination is to vote against Senator Allard's bill," said Sen. Mark Pryor, D-Ark. "We ought to have the study and see where that leads us."

Sen. Blanche Lincoln, D-Ark., said it was "absolutely essential that you have a study if you're going to entertain the idea of transporting chemical weapons."

The Army announced last week that it would explore hauling some of its chemical weapons stockpile from sites that have yet to build destruction systems to sites with existing facilities.

The study is part of an effort to reduce costs and meet a 2012 international treaty deadline to destroy the materials stored at eight sites nationwide.

The Pine Bluff Arsenal houses an incinerator plant and is on track to begin weapons destruction next month.

"Studying whether to relocate the stockpile is an incredible waste of time and scarce defense dollars," Allard said in a statement. "The money should be used to help pay for the rising cost of disposing of these weapons, not a meaningless intellectual exercise."

Allard's office estimated the study would cost nearly $150,000.

Army spokesman Greg Mahall said the Army is following a Defense Department directive.

"When we get the orders, we move out," Mahall said. "If Senator Allard's introduced bill becomes law, the Army is going to salute the flag pole and do as directed."

Allard's bill was met with surprise from White Hall Mayor Jitters Morgan.

"To me this is just a study," Morgan said. "I don't see what harm a study would do."

Morgan said he was opposed to shipping "dangerous" chemical weapons to the arsenal from other states, but "there might be some chemicals you could ship."

Announcement of the study last week drew sharp criticism from anti-incineration and safety activists. They argue transporting the materials along the nation's highways could place local communities at risk for chemical exposure and terrorism.

They charge the study is part of a plan to cut funding to storage sites in Colorado and Kentucky, which have not begun the disposal process, and transport their materials for disposal at other sites.

Rep. Mike Ross, D-Prescott, whose district houses the arsenal, said he believed the study would show the plan is not feasible.

"We're a long way from seeing this become a reality," Ross said. "There is a reason that there have been incinerators at the site of all these chemical weapons to avoid having to" transport them to other sites.

"The Pentagon is feeling pressure from the administration to try and cut spending and they are looking at a lot of options," he said.

Ross said Allard's bill aims to keep the weapons on track for disposal in the senator's home state of Colorado.

"You've got various states competing for the opportunity to destroy chemical weapons," Ross said. "That's a sad commentary on the state of the economy today. You would normally think states would object to destroying chemical weapons."

Ross said even if chemical agent transportation were approved, the Pine Bluff Arsenal is not designed to destroy the type of weapons stored at sites in Colorado and Kentucky.

The arsenal's incinerator is designed to destroy rockets and containers filled with chemical agents, he said. Since 1942, the Pine Bluff facility has housed chemical materials that include blister agent, mustard gas, and the nerve agents VX and sarin.

"There would be a significant investment in reworking the incinerator at the Pine Bluff Arsenal to even be able to handle the kind of chemical-filled projectiles that are presently located in Colorado and Kentucky," Ross said.

The incinerator already in operation in Anniston, Ala., is designed to process projectiles, he pointed out.

Even if the study endorses the transportation idea, it would face obstacles.

First, a permit issued by the Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality bars the arsenal from receiving stockpile chemical materials from off-site sources.

Second, a federal law prohibits the transportation of the chemical weapons stockpile across state lines. Any change to the law would have to come through Congress or a presidential executive order.



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