Tue, Mar. 9, 2004

Senators call for end to Army study
Wednesday, Mar 16, 2005

By Alison Vekshin
Stephens Washington Bureau
WASHINGTON - A Senate budget resolution being considered this week calls on the Defense Department to stop studying plans to transport aging chemical weapons across state lines for destruction at sites like the Pine Bluff Arsenal.

The budget blueprint includes language inserted by Sens. Wayne Allard, R-Colo., and Jim Bunning, R-Ky., directing the department to continue with the onsite destruction of the materials stored at depots in their home states. Disposal facilities in Kentucky and Colorado are still in the design phase.

"The department should stop the needless study of alternative demilitarization technologies, complete the design process for both sites and include sufficient funds in future budgets to fully fund those facilities," the provision states.

In an effort to contain costs and speed up the disposal process, the Army announced in January that it would study alternatives to meeting a 2012 international treaty deadline to destroy the nation's chemical weapons stockpile.

Among the options, the Army is exploring moving some of the stockpile among eight storage sites, including the Pine Bluff Arsenal.

The Pine Bluff Arsenal houses a $500 million incinerator plant that is scheduled to begin destroying its 3,850 tons of material later this month.

The Army is scheduled to complete the study early next month, possibly before Congress completes work on the budget measure.

Allard and Bunning said they would rather see the materials destroyed onsite at the Blue Grass Army Depot near Richmond, Ky., and the Pueblo Chemical Depot near Pueblo, Colo.

The Defense Department "has been stonewalling for years and it is time for the DoD to produce results," Bunning said in a statement.

The lawmakers inserted the language during last week's Senate Budget Committee hearing on the budget resolution. The nonbinding measure sets caps for discretionary spending, federal deficit projections and instructions to change entitlement programs and tax policy. It also allows Congress to outline its spending, revenue, borrowing and economic goals.

"The delay caused by the department's actions puts the United States in jeopardy of violating treaty obligations to destroy the munitions by 2012, leaves the public at risk of exposure to chemical agents and increases the threat of terrorist activities associated with continuing to store these weapons of mass destruction domestically," the measure said.

Pentagon and Army spokespeople said they would comply with any legislation Congress approves.

The Senate is expected to vote on the resolution later this week.