ARMY MAY MOVE WEAPONS TO ARSENAL, OTHER SITES

By Alison Vekshin/STEPHENS WASHINGTON BUREAU

WASHINGTON -- The Army will consider relocating tons of the nation's chemical weapons among its eight storage sites in an effort to meet a 2012 international treaty deadline to destroy the materials, the Army announced Wednesday.

The Defense Department has directed the Army to come up with plans to reach the deadline, including possibly transporting chemical agents to sites where material already is on track for incineration.

The proposal drew sharp criticism from anti-incineration and safety activists. They maintained that transporting chemical weapons components along the nation's roadways could place people at risk for chemical exposure and terrorism.

Evelyn Yates, head of Pine Bluff for Safe Disposal, an anti-incineration group, voiced concern over the possibility that weapons stored at the Blue Grass Army Depot near Richmond, Ky., could be transported to the Pine Bluff Arsenal.

"I do not want my community to become a dumping ground," Yates said during a conference call with reporters.

The Arsenal is one of eight sites storing the Army's chemical weapons stockpile. It is scheduled to begin incinerating its weapons next month.

Officials at the Chemical Weapons Working Group, a Kentucky-based anti-incineration group, charged the decision is part of a plan to cut funding to weapons stockpile sites in Kentucky and Colorado.

As a result, weapons stored in those states could be transported to Anniston, Ala., and Tooele, Utah, where disposal facilities already are operating, they said.

Craig Williams, the group's director, said the Pine Bluff Arsenal has a high potential for becoming the recipient of Kentucky's 523 tons of chemical weapons.

"I think the level of response in opposition to this in the state of Alabama has been significant and quick, and I don't see that kind of response coming from Arkansas," he said.

Yates agreed, saying the Pine Bluff community has been passive in reacting to the disposal process in part because of the city's high level of poverty.

"That means we may receive some things that other people will not accept," she said.

The Army was asked to consider safety when evaluating the transportation option.

"The Army is to address safeguarding the chemical weapons stockpile when relocations among sites is considered as one of these alternatives," Patrick Wakefield, deputy assistant to the secretary of defense, wrote in a Jan. 10 memo released by the Army.

It is too soon to discuss the content of the evaluations, said Michael Parker, director of the U.S. Army Chemical Materials Agency.

"We have a proven track record in safely storing and eliminating chemical material, while protecting workers, the public and the environment," Parker said in a statement.

Parker also is the program manager for the Defense Department's Assembled Chemical Weapons Alternatives program, which also was directed to evaluate weapons destruction plans.

The program is responsible for the destruction of chemical weapons stockpiles in Colorado and Kentucky but does not have authority to consider relocating the weapons.

"We're studying options that would reduce the cost of construction of facilities in Colorado and Kentucky," spokeswoman Katherine Deweese said.

The Army and the Assembled Chemical Weapons Alternatives program have been asked to present their suggestions in a briefing to the undersecretary of defense for acquisition, technology and logistics by March 21.

An international treaty called the Chemical Weapons Convention calls on the U.S. government to destroy its entire stockpile by Dec. 31, 2007. The government is expected to apply for a five-year extension of the deadline to April 29, 2012.

Since 1942, the Pine Bluff Arsenal has housed 12 percent of the government's chemical weapons stockpile, which includes blister agent, mustard gas, and the nerve agents VX and sarin