January 7, 2004
DENVER - The Rocky Mountain Arsenal, where sarin nerve gas and other weapons of mass destruction were manufactured for years, has officially been declared free of chemical weapons.
The arsenal 10 miles north of Denver once represented 60 percent of the nation's chemical weapons production capacity but is well on its way to becoming a federal wildlife preserve. Stockpiles at six other U.S. sites are being destroyed under international treaties.
The cost of cleanup at the arsenal is estimated at $2.2 billion.
The Organization for Prohibition of Chemical Weapons has certified that the site is both free of weapons and no longer has production facilities, said Charles Scharmann, program manager for cleanup of the facility that produced chemical weapons for the Army.
"It is a significant milestone for us," he said Tuesday.
It has been more than 30 years since chemical weapons were manufactured at the site. Destruction of weapons began in the 1970s.
Destruction of the production facilities began in the 1990s and was completed recently, Scharmann said. The international organization toured the site in October.
Visitors began touring the site, under close supervision, in 1989. The Sierra Club expressed safety concerns in 1999, but state and federal health officials have said there is no danger.
Howard Roitman, environmental programs director for the state health department, said his agency has signed off on the plan to hand over the 5,000 acres to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for the wildlife refuge.
That land is on the perimeter of the site. Scharmann said production was done in the center.
The Army acquired the 17,000-acre site in 1942 when it was still farmland, and produced mustard gas and other weapons. These days, the site is a sanctuary for nearly 300 species, including deer, coyotes, bald eagles and white pelicans.
The Environmental Protection Agency is preparing to remove the site from the Superfund program.