Defense Environment Alert 03/09/04

Defense Environment Alert

an exclusive biweekly report on defense policies for cleanup, compliance and pollution prevention

Vol. 12, No. 5--March 9, 2004

SENATORS CRITICIZE DOD'S MOVE TO CUT FUNDING AT PUEBLO WEAPONS SITE

Colorado and Kentucky's senators are deriding the Defense Department's decision to strip funding for chemical
weapons destruction at a Pueblo, CO, facility in order to pay for chemical demilitarization costs at other sites, saying the cut contradicts DOD's goal of completing destruction of stockpiled chemical weapons by 2012. To address the issue, Sen. Wayne Allard (R-CO) plans to try to restore funding for the facility, according to a spokeswoman for his office.

In a Feb. 26 letter to DOD acting acquisition chief Michael Wynne, the senators ask for detailed future budget
scenarios for DOD's chemical demilitarization alternatives program and a strategy for meeting international destruction deadlines for facilities under this program. The letter is signed by Sens. Allard, Ben Nighthorse Campbell (R-CO), Mitch McConnell (R-KY) and Jim Bunning (R-KY). The lette~ is available on InsideEPA. com. Seepage 2for details.

At issue is the decision by DOD and the Army to drop research and development (R&D) funding for the Pueblo
acility in fiscal year 2005 to $4.9 million, nearly $150 million below the level the Army had projected for the site a year ago (Defense Environment Alert, Feb. 10, p4). As a pilot facility, most of the Pueblo plant's funding comes from
the R&D budget line.

The senators fear the cut will not only affect Pueblo's schedule, but also that for the chemical demilitarization facility being designed for the chemical weapons stockpile at the military's Blue Grass, KY, facility. Both facilities fall under DOD's Assembled Chemical Weapons Alternatives (ACWA) program, which are distinct from the other assembled weapons sites in that they will use non-incineration methods to destroy the weapons.

"It is estimated the $147 million cut to ACWA's Pueblo, CO stockpile will practically end substantive R&D at that facility for the entirety of FY05, delay the destruction of the Colorado stockpile by up to 18 months, and negatively affect the design and schedule for the Bluegrass facility," the senators say in the letter. "In light of repeated expressions of Congressional concern regarding the need to allocate more resources to [the] overall Chemical Demilitarization program, this massive funding cut is especially disturbing."

Allard's spokeswoman says the senator is trying to do everything he can to restore the funding, but has not yet decided what legislative vehicle he'll use to make that attempt. She says Allard is currently in talks with the Pentagon.

In their letter, the senators question DOD's decision to make the cut in order to pay for unforeseen costs at other sites, noting that the overall chemical demilitarization budget was cut by $85 million.

In particular, they say these budget decisions "may hamper ACWA’s ability to complete its program objectives,"
including destruction of all chemical weapons at these two facilities by 201.2, the final deadline allowed under extensions to the Chemical Weapons Convention.

"Therefore, we request that the Department provide us with a detailed strategy as to how it plans to complete the destruction of chemical weapons at ACWA facilities by 2012, as well as with materials detailing the program's planned budget under the future year's defense plan. Furthermore, we request that we be notified prior to any decision to reduce, reallocate, or reprogram future funding from the ACWA program."

But an Army budget official has said that FY04 funds will carry Pueblo into FY05 and does not anticipate the reduction will cause much of a slowdown at Pueblo.