Local
Posted on Teus., Feb. 05, 2008
More budgeted for arms disposal
MONEY WILL BE USED AT COLO., RICHMOND SITES
By Ashlee Clark And Halimah Abdullah
ACLARK@HERALD-LEADER.COM HABDULLAH@MCCLATCHYDC.COM
The Department of Defense has added $47 million for the destruction of chemical weapons at Blue Grass Army Depot in Richmond and its sister plant in Colorado to President Bush's proposed fiscal 2009 budget.
Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said Secretary of Defense Robert Gates agreed to increase funding for the Assembled Chemical Weapons Alternatives program from $351 million to nearly $398 million in the new budget, presented Monday. ACWA is overseeing the destruction of the chemical weapons stockpiles in Madison County and at the Pueblo Chemical Depot in Colorado.
Of that $398 million, $193 million would go for research, development and construction of the chemical neutralization plant in Madison County. An additional $12 million would be used to build a road to the facility.
"I am pleased that Secretary Gates agreed with me about the importance of increasing funding for chemical weapons disposal," McConnell said in a statement. "His decision to provide nearly $50 million more in his budget request for the ACWA program will help ensure that the chemical weapons stored at the Blue Grass Army Depot are not only disposed of safely but also more quickly."
The depot faces a 2017 deadline to destroy its chemical weapons, a provision McConnell wrote that was enacted into law last year.
"Together, increased funding for disposal and a deadline set into law are moving us closer to disposal of these heinous weapons," McConnell said Monday on the Senate floor.
In a letter to Gates dated Dec. 5, McConnell asked for the Department of Defense to request sufficient funding for weapons destruction. Gates replied in a letter dated Jan. 11 that he would recommend more money for the program. Gates also said the Department of Defense is assessing available options and alternatives to destroying the chemical weapons stockpile by 2012, but no later than 2017.
"That deadline is now driving the budget requests," said Craig Williams, director of the Berea-based Chemical Weapons Working Group.
Williams said the request is welcome news after past years, when funding shortfalls stretched out the schedule for disposing of the weapons. Williams said that at previous years' funding levels -- about $33 million a year -- disposal of the weapons would have stretched past 2023.
"(Pentagon officials) recognize that it's going to take more money to get it done in a timely manner," he said.
Dave Easter, a spokesman for ACWA, declined to comment because the budget is pending.
McConnell's Kentucky colleagues in Congress were pleased with the budget addition.
"I have often raised concerns about the lack of urgency with which the Department of Defense has handled funding the cleanup at the Blue Grass Army Depot," said Sen. Jim Bunning, R-Ky. "I'm glad to see that they have finally gotten the message and are taking the necessary steps to get it done."
Rep. Ben Chandler, D-Versailles, said: "I am pleased that the Pentagon has agreed this year to make chemical weapons disposal a real priority. For the first time in years, the president's budget adequately funds disposal, and I am glad that this project can move forward as planned."
There are 523 tons of mustard gas, sarin and VX, stored at the depot. There are 2,611 tons of mustard agent at the Pueblo depot.
Reach Ashlee Clark in the Richmond bureau at (859) 626-5878.