Denver Post
July 27, 2003

Pueblo tries to speed up disposal of chemicals

By Becca Blond, Special to The Denver Post

PUEBLO - Chemical weapons at the Pueblo Chemical Depot slated for destruction could cost $270,000 a day to dispose, an official with the company contracted to destroy the weapons said Saturday.

The number came up at a community forum to discuss ways to accelerate the destruction of 780,078 munitions containing mustard gas within 20 years.

The weapons have been housed at the depot, 15 miles east of Pueblo, for more than 50 years.

"We don't want to cut corners but every day (we get rid of the chemical faster) we save the taxpayers a lot of money," said Mike Lewis, project manger for Bechtel Pueblo, the company contracted by the Department of Defense to carry out the construction of a plant to destroy the mustard gas.

In July 2002, the government approved, with the backing of at least nine government and civic organizations in Pueblo, a method of destruction called neutralization, followed by biodegradation. In this process, the mustard gas will be deactivated by mixing it with water; then bacteria, similar to the kind found in municipal sewage plants, will be introduced to devour the material and create a nonhazardous substance.

The project is set for completion between 2010 and 2013 and could cost more than $1 billion, Lewis said.

Following Sept. 11, however, chemical weapons stockpiles housed at five facilities across the country became more of a security risk; thus the Department of Defense mandated that the destruction of all weapons stockpiles be accelerated.

"I think everyone can agree the sooner we get the weapons out of the community, the better we'll be," said Bill Pechlivanian, deputy program manager of Assembled Chemical Weapons Alternatives, a program created by Congress in 1997 to study alternatives to incineration of chemical weapons.

"We're trying to figure out the best way to move forward ... we're looking at options that save time and money," he said.

The committee considered three options at Saturday's forum.

The government is proposing either shipping uncontaminated wood casings currently holding the gas canisters off-site for disposal or moving propellant bags - used to push the gas canisters out of the barrel of the weapon used to dispense them - to another location for incineration. The third option would be to ship water used to neutralize the gas off-site for treatment and disposal.

The advisory commission would like to keep all operations in Pueblo for economic and environmental reasons.

It is estimated that disassembling the weapons will create up to 12,000 jobs over the next 10 years.

"We've been stewards of these munitions for 50 years and this is our problem in Pueblo," said Pueblo County Commissioner John Klump. "I believe Pueblo deserves the opportunity to complete the process here."

Some residents said they did not believe another city should be burdened with their hazardous waste.

"It gives us some heartache because we have spent 15 years trying not to burn the chemical weapons here and if we ship any products off we are saying it's OK to send it to another community," said Ross Vincent, a member of the citizens' group.

Originally, the Department of Defense wanted to incinerate the mustard gas. Community members fought hard for the more ecologically sound neutralization process.

Vincent conceded, however, that ultimately the department has the final word on how and where the weapons are destroyed. While an international treaty requires the gas itself to be destroyed onsite in Pueblo, the rest of the process is up to the government.

"We're willing to work with them," Vincent said.

He said he expects the advisory committee will agree to the options of either shipping the boxes or bags off-site, but will not agree to the shipment of water.