LINCOLN TO DISCUSS TRANSFERRING WEAPONS TO ARSENAL

By Alison Vekshin/STEPHENS WASHINGTON BUREAU

WASHINGTON -- Sen. Blanche Lincoln, D-Ark., has scheduled a meeting next week for Pentagon officials to discuss the possibility that chemical weapons may be transported into Arkansas to be destroyed at the Pine Bluff Arsenal, a spokesman said Friday.

The U.S. Army Chemical Materials Agency announced this week that it would study ways to meet a 2012 international treaty deadline to destroy the U.S. chemical weapons stockpile.

Among the possibilities, the Army said it will explore transporting the material among its eight storage sites, including the one in Pine Bluff where stockpile incineration is scheduled to begin in February.

"Our office has requested a meeting with the Department of Defense to learn the facts of the study and what the implications could be," said Lincoln spokesman Drew Goesl.

Goesl said Lincoln staff members will meet with the military officials and report to the senator.

"(Lincoln) wants to look into the matter to determine the feasibility of such an action and ultimately to make sure that any change in policy is done in the best interests of Pine Bluff," he said.

Sen. Mark Pryor, D-Ark., also has begun investigating, spokesman Rodell Mollineau said.

"Senator Pryor's office has contacted officials at the Arsenal and the Department of Defense regarding the potential of hauling chemical weapons to a site such as Pine Bluff," Mollineau said.

"The senator understands that no overnight decision will be made and that the study is going to require an extensive review," he said.

Rep. Mike Ross, D-Prescott, whose district houses the Arsenal, said he plans to monitor the issue.

"I have been told that at this time the Army is only studying the possibility of this as a cost-saving measure and no decisions have been made," Ross said in a statement.

"In addition, all permit changes for the Arsenal would require public notice and a public comment period," he noted.

A permit issued by the Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality bars the Arsenal from receiving stockpile chemical materials from off-site sources, said department spokesman David F. Kern.

A permit change would "take weeks, even months, to approve," Kern said.

Further, a federal law bars the transportation of the chemical weapons stockpile across state lines, Army spokesman Jeff Lindblad said.

Any change to the law would have to come through Congress or an executive order issued by the president in the interest of national security, he said.

Army spokeswoman Sandra Clawson-Freeo said it was too early to say which of the eight stockpile sites nationwide would be affected, if any.

"We've just barely begun the process of looking at it," Clawson-Freeo said. "We have no idea if anything would be moved."

The Defense Department directed the Army to conduct the study last Friday.

Its purpose is "to look at a variety of options that would enable us to destroy all the chemical weapons by 2012," Clawson-Freeo said. "All we've been asked right now is to evaluate alternatives."

Officials at the Chemical Weapons Working Group, a Kentucky-based anti-incineration group, said the study is part of a plan to cut funding to weapons stockpile sites in Kentucky and Colorado, where destruction systems are not yet in place.

Weapons stored there could be moved to Alabama and Utah, where incinerators already are operating, they said.

Craig Williams, the group's director, said this week that opposition has been more pronounced in Alabama than in Arkansas.

The muted reaction leaves the Pine Bluff Arsenal vulnerable to becoming the target recipient of the 523 tons of chemical weapons stored at the Blue Grass Army Depot near Richmond, Ky., he said.