Non-Stockpile Chemical Materiel Program Issues
Draft Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement
The Army's Non-Stockpile Chemical Materiel Program (NSCMP) draft
Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement was released to the public in
October 1999. The document "describes the potential environmental impacts
of four transportable systems for treating non-stockpile [chemical weapons]."
The PEIS outlines several possible courses of action regarding treatment of
non-stockpile chemical weapons, but actually considers only two of the
alternatives. Those two options are 1) to complete development of a series of
transportable treatment systems and utilize these systems on-site for non-
stockpile chemical weapons; or to 2) take no action (i.e. suspend or stop
development of the transportable systems and research and develop additional
treatment systems).
The Army's preferred alternative (option #1 above) involves destroying system
residual wastes in a commercial hazardous waste incinerator.
The Non-Stockpile Chemcial Weapons Citizens Coalition offers a third option:
1) moving forward with testing of the transportable treatment systems,
provided that problems identified in the pre-operational surveys are resolved;
2) obtaining a permit to store residual wastes on-site until the wastes can
either be used in a treatibility study for a non-incineration technology, or
destroyed in a commercial non-incineration technology, when such a facility is
permitted; 3) completing design work on second series transportable
treatment systems but then comparing these systems to other non-incineration
disposal technologies before moving ahead with demonstrations.
The public has a chance to review and comment on this document until early
February 2000. You can get a copy of the PEIS in the mail by calling (410)
436-3768, or by getting it from the NSCMP web site at www-
pmcd.apgea.army.mil/nscmp/index/html.
For more information on grassroots activities around the non-stockpile chemical
weapons issue, or on the NSCWCC's alternative proposal to the Programmatic
Environmental Impact Statement, please contact Elizabeth Crowe at (606) 986-
0868 or by email at kefcrowe@acs.eku.edu.
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