Local
Posted on Thu, Sep 13, 2007
Disposal of chemical arms could be earlier
MCCONNELL PLAN GAINS IN CONGRESS
By Jim Warren And Halimah Abdullah
JWARREN@HERALD-LEADER.COM HABDULLAH@MCCLATCHYDC.COM
Two steps in Congress by U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell could speed up the timetable for disposing of thousands of aging and possibly dangerous chemical weapons stored at Blue Grass Army Depot near Richmond.
Under the Defense Department's current funding profile, disposal of the weapons at Richmond would not begin until about 2017 and wouldn't be completed until 2023.
But McConnell said yesterday that the Senate Appropriations Committee has adopted his proposal to set a 2017 deadline for completing the disposal of all chemical weapons in the U.S. arsenal, including those at Richmond.
McConnell said the appropriations committee also has approved his request for $89.5 million for several defense-related projects in Kentucky during fiscal 2008. That includes $28 million in additional research and development money for the plant that will be built at the Richmond depot to dispose of the chemical weapons there.
Additional money also was earmarked to dispose of chemical weapons stored at the depot in Pueblo, Colo.
The items will be part of the Fiscal 2008 Defense Appropriations Bill, which now goes to the full Senate for consideration.
If the amendments win final approval, chemical weapons at Richmond could be gone six years earlier than now projected, said Craig Williams, executive director of the Berea-based Chemical Weapons Working Group, which backs chemical disposal of the weapons.
McConnell's proposals "would direct and force by law getting the disposal work done by 2017 and provide more funding to support that schedule," Williams said yesterday. "That's very important for us here in Kentucky."
For two decades, the Army has been exploring ways to get rid of its aging arsenal of chemical weapons, including 523 tons of nerve and mustard agent stored for decades in small rockets and artillery shells at the Richmond depot.
Leaks from some projectiles have been detected periodically over the years, although no injuries have been reported. Nevertheless, Army officials agree that the old weapons pose a risk for Richmond and other communities near the depot. The United States also is obligated to dispose of its weapons stockpile under the terms of the international Chemical Warfare Convention Treaty.
In early 2003, after years of debate, the Army selected chemical neutralization as the safest method for getting rid of the weapons at Richmond. But the project stalled in July 2003 when the Pentagon shifted funding.
A chemical weapons neutralization plant still hasn't been built at the depot, although site preparation work has been done and the Army plans to pour concrete for the plant foundation early next year.
"I have continued to put pressure on the Department of Defense to get the job done, and I will continue to keep their feet to the fire until all the weapons are disposed of and the community is safe," McConnell said.
Senators from Kentucky and Colorado say that putting off the destruction of the chemical weapons at Richmond and Pueblo would cost taxpayers more in the long run.
"The Department of Defense has continually played games with funding for the design and construction of the chemical demilitarization facility at the Blue Grass Army Depot," Kentucky Republican Sen. Jim Bunning said. "It is time for them to produce results."
Pentagon spokesman Chris Isleib responded yesterday that the Defense Department is "committed to its responsibility to destroy these outdated weapons safely and efficiently. Destroying these weapons safely is not a fast or simple process."
Isleib noted that the Pentagon has plants in operation destroying chemical munitions at five sites around the country. Plants at Richmond and Pueblo will be the sixth and seventh to be built, he said.
Reach Jim Warren at (859) 231-3255 or 1-800-950-6397, Ext. 3255.
DAVID STEPHENSON/LEXINGTON HERALD-LEADER
Ammunition inspector Elmer Rogers viewed weapons stored at the
Bluegrass Army Depot outside Richmond in 1999.
1999 file photo by David Stephenson | Staff