Defense Environment Alert
July 16, 2002

LAWMAKERS WANT DOD OFFICE MANAGING WEAPONS DESTRUCTION

Colorado and Kentucky lawmakers, along with environmentalists, are urging DOD acquisition chief E.C. "Pete" Aldridge to assign DOD's Assembled Chemical Weapons Assessment (ACWA) program office as the manager of chemical weapons disposal in Pueblo, CO, instead of the Army's Program Manager for Chemical Demilitarization (PMCD) office, which is in charge of destruction activities at chemical weapons stockpile sites using incineration.

Additionally, the lawmakers are seeking confirmation that Aldridge plans to endorse a neutralization/ biotreatment technology over incineration to destroy the weapons at the Pueblo Chemical Depot.

At press time, Aldridge had not finalized the Acquisition Decision Memorandum (ADM) concerning chemical demilitarization activities in Pueblo, CO, although sources say it is expected to formally choose neutralization/ biotreatment over incineration at the destruction technology. What is unknown is whether the ADM will pick ACWA or PMCD to oversee the weapons disposal, according to sources tracking the issue.

Sources say Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY) has drafted language stipulating that ACWA manage destruction efforts at the Blue Grass Army Depot, KY, if a non-incineration technology is chosen for that site. McConnell is expected to try to add the language to the fiscal year 2003 defense appropriations bill during a scheduled July 16 Senate Appropriations defense subcommittee markup, the sources say. Pueblo leaders at press time were lobbying Sen. Ben Nighthorse Cambell (R-CO) to work with McConnell to include a similar provision for Pueblo in the legislation.

Sen. Wayne Allard (R-CO) and McConnell wrote to Aldridge June 27, saying, "[W]e are concerned with evidence that the Program Manager for Chemical Demilitarization is seeking greater control over the implementation of alternative demilitarization technologies in Colorado and Kentucky. This organization in the past has not demonstrated a strong commitment either in its degree of transparency or coordination with local officials and concerned citizens." McConnell is responsible for the 1997 legislation that established the ACWA program and forced DOD to consider technologies other than incineration. Related documents are available on InsideEPA.com. Seepage 2for details.

In contrast, the senators say, ACWA's managers "are generally well-respected and trusted by local community leaders."

State Sen. Bill Thiebaut, majority leader of the Colorado Senate, is even more blunt in his July 9 letter to Aldridge, which strongly urges the acquisition chief "to clarify the assignment of authority" over destruction activities at Pueblo. "The community has had a difficult time working with [PMCD] and quite frankly, does not want them involved in the management of this project in any respect except as may be deemed necessary by [ACWA]," he says. ACWA "is our clear choice and I urge you to assign them clear primary authority without interference."

The Sangre de Cristo Group of the Sierra Club, in a July 2 letter to Aldridge, writes, "For the last ten years we have struggled with the manipulation and mismanagement fostered by PMCD. Their lack of candor and transparency contrasts with the open, honest, responsive working relationships our community has developed with ACWA." The environmentalists say they support the Allard and McConnell request "that clear and undiluted implementation responsibility be assigned" to ACWA.

And the Diocese of Pueblo tells Aldridge in a July 3 letter that "it is essential that ACWA has full responsibility for the demilitarization project at the Pueblo Chemical Depot" for several reasons. The principle reason is that it is important for the community to have trust in the implementing organization and "ACWA has demonstrated a very open, honest, respectful, and accountable approach to the community," the diocese says.