Defense Environment Alert
an exclusive biweekly report on defense policies
for cleanup, compliance and pollution prevention
Vol. 12, No. 7--April 6, 2004
NON-STOCKPILE PROGRAM REACHES DESTRUCTION MILESTONE EARLY
The Army's Non-Stockpile Chemical Materiel Program officially announced March
23 it had destroyed more than 80 percent of the nation's original chemical
weapons production capabilities, approximately 16 months before a deadline
in an international treaty.
The Army reached the milestone in December 2003 during the ongoing destruction
of the former integrated binary production facilities at Pine Bluff Arsenal,
AR, but did not officially report it to the Organisation for the Prohibition
of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) until March 23. OPCW is the international agency
charged with overseeing chemical weapons destruction worldwide.
To date the Army has destroyed the former pilot plant complex at Aberdeen
Proving Ground, MD; the former BZ fill facility at Pine Bluff Arsenal; and
the Phosphate Development Works in Muscle Shoals, AL. The Army has also destroyed
the DC production facility, the mustard fill facility, the mustard distillation
facility and the GB production and fill facility, all located at the Rocky
Mountain Arsenal in Colorado.
BZ was a former hallucinogen similar to the commonly known LSD. The Alabama
facility made precursors for the production of GB nerve agent for use in
production facilities at the Rocky Mountain Arsenal. GB is a nonpersistent
nerve agent, and DC was a precursor chemical used to make GB. Mustard is
a powerful blister agent used widely in World War 1. The pilot plant in Maryland
made small quantities of a wide variety of toxins.
"This significant achievement shows the Army's commitment to meeting our
national and international obligations to eliminate our legacy of chemical
warfare programs in a manner that protects the environment today and for
future generations," Lt. Col. James P. Fletcher, product manager for the
non-stockpile program, said in a March 23 statement.