Pentagon: Chemical weapons won't be moved

By Brian Lyman
Star Staff Writer
04-21-2005

WASHINGTON — The Defense Department has concluded it will not transport chemical weapons to Anniston or other working chemical weapons incinerators for destruction. Lt. Cmdr. Joe Carpenter, a spokesman for the Pentagon, said Wednesday the Defense Department had gathered enough information on “means and methods without the necessity of addressing transportation at this time.” The news came in a memo from Undersecretary Michael Wynne, which also announced that the Defense Department will release $167 million allocated in the 2005 budget for construction of weapons disposal sites in Colorado and Kentucky. Combined with funds already appropriated, those sites could receive $300 million to $375 million over the next few months. A study on disposal alternatives at those sites will continue. “It’s still going forward,” said Jeffrey Lindblad, a spokesman for the Army’s Chemical Materials Agency, which is preparing the study for the Pentagon. “We’re in the process of finalizing it.” The Pentagon’s decision follows three months of controversy over the question of chemical weapons shipment, which currently is prohibited by federal law. The Defense Department, facing budget shortfalls, froze money for Colorado and Kentucky in December and told the Army to study other methods of destroying stockpiles there, accounting for about 8 percent of the nation’s Cold War inventory. The United States must destroy its entire stockpile by 2012, under the Chemical Weapons Convention, an international treaty signed in 1997. Alabama’s state and federal representatives opposed the transportation option. Rep. Mike Rogers, R-3rd District, welcomed Wednesday’s news. “I’ve said all along this was an absurd idea, and I’m glad to see DOD has relented,” Rogers said in a prepared statement. “But I’ll also keep a close eye on the situation to ensure they do as they say.” Sen. Richard Shelby, R-Ala., who co-sponsored legislation that ordered the Pentagon to stop the study of transportation, praised the Pentagon’s decision Wednesday. “I am pleased the Department of Defense is keeping its word and moving forward with the construction of these other facilities,” Shelby said in a prepared statement. Carpenter said he did not know whether the political fallout had anything to do with the Pentagon’s decision. He said, though, that the Defense Department felt it had “enough information” to take transportation out of consideration. Transportation of chemical weapons across state lines is illegal. To make transportation a reality, Congress would need to change the law, or the president would have to issue an executive order. The released money should allow preliminary design and the installation of infrastructure on the sites. Two weeks ago, the Senate Appropriations Committee included language in its Emergency Supplemental Appropriations Bill that, if passed, would have ordered the immediate release of all funds connected with the disposal sites. Critics of the Pentagon’s handling of the funds still were happy with the news. Craig Williams, a spokesman with the Chemical Weapons Working Group in Berea, Ky., said waiting for the bill to pass would have put a number of hurdles in front of the funding. “This is much better because there are no ifs,” he said. “They released it.” Kathy DeWeese, a spokeswoman for the Assembled Chemical Weapons Alternatives (ACWA) program, which oversees the Colorado and Kentucky sites, was unavailable for comment Wednesday.

About Brian Lyman

Brian Lyman covers infrastructure and the cities of Heflin and Lincoln for the Anniston Star. He lives in Anniston.