The senators met with Pentagon officials Tuesday after it was reported that the Army was considering plans to delay and cut funding for construction of the neutralization plant. Allard and Salazar said they were assured by Patrick Wakefield, a deputy assistant to Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, that the weapons would be destroyed at the Pueblo facility and wouldn't be shipped out of state.

But in a memo the Army received Jan. 14, Wakefield ordered the U.S. Army Chemical Materials Agency to provide a briefing by Feb. 18 on destruction alternatives, including relocation. He could not be reached Thursday for comment.

Cody Wertz, a spokesman for Salazar, said the senator is "going on good faith that what they've been told will be done is what's planned."

Any decision to move mustard gas from Pueblo would be met by a fierce political and legal fight. Moving the chemical munitions across state lines would require a change in the law or an order from President Bush.

Greg Mahall, a spokesman for the Army Chemical Materials Agency in Aberdeen, Md., said the evaluation probably would consider the movement of weapons from Pueblo to the Tooele Chemical Agent Disposal Facility in Utah. That facility uses incineration to destroy nerve agents.

Officials in Utah said they are working to learn more about the Army's plans.

"This is something that we are watching closely because we are concerned about the possible transportation of these materials to Utah," said Jason Chaffetz, chief of staff for Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman.

A draft budget released last week said the Pentagon planned to delay funding for construction at the Pueblo Chemical Depot and the Blue Grass Chemical Depot in Kentucky until 2011. The Pentagon had said it would spend $1 billion on each facility between 2006 and 2011, but the latest budget figures call for spending $15 million annually at each location in that time.

The relocation option, first suggested in a Dec. 21 Defense Department memo, is viewed by some as a desperate move by a cash-strapped agency.

"One of the motivations is to try to use the money from these two sites (Pueblo and Blue Grass) to offset cost overruns at other sites where they can't make the equipment work properly," said Ross Vincent, a Pueblo resident and Sierra Club member who has paid close attention to plans for the plant.

"If they can delay the start of construction here for six to nine months ... that would give them a year's worth of budget to devote to these other sites. And, obviously, they'd like to have more than a year's worth."

Rep. John Salazar, who represents the 3rd Congressional District, said the idea to relocate weapons is "very strange, and it's something that popped up out of nowhere."

The newly elected Democrat said he wants the jobs to stay in Pueblo and vowed to "continue to put enough pressure as we can on them."

Staff writer Erin Emery can be reached at 719-522-1360 or eemery@denverpost.com .