136th Year... and
still on the job!
Wednesday January 19,
2005
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136th Year... and
still on the job!
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Wednesday January 19,
2005
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The prime contractor and Colorado's U.S. Senate delegation are getting mixed signals from the Department of Defense about the fate of the chemical weapons destruction program at the Pueblo Chemical Depot and whether the 2,600 tons of aging weapons might be moved somewhere else.
Sen. Wayne Allard, R-Colo., and Sen. Ken Salazar, D-Colo., met Tuesday afternoon with Pat Wakefield, deputy assistant to the secretary of defense for chemical demilitarization and threat reduction, and Dale Klein, assistant secretary of defense on nuclear and chemical and biological defense programs.
Allard said following the meeting, "We were assured . . . that they didn't intend and have no plans to move the mustard agent out of the Pueblo depot."
However, Gary Anderson, site manager for the Assembled Chemical Weapons Alternatives program, which is overseeing weapons destruction programs in Pueblo and the Blue Grass Army Depot in Kentucky, said that ACWA received a letter from the Defense Department last week telling it to halt all Phase 1 work for 90 days while the Army studies "transportation options."
The prospect of shipping the weapons out of Pueblo, most likely to the Tooele Army Depot in Utah where an incinerator is already in operation, first surfaced last week in a leaked memo from Undersecretary of Defense Michael Wynne.
Wynne wrote, "The Army should also address safeguarding the the chemical weapons stockpile, as needed, to minimize any additional risk incurred, including relocation if necessary among sites."
Allard said that he was told in Tuesday's meeting that the memo was "badly misinterpreted," and that Wynne would clarify the issues in the memo.
Under federal law, it is illegal to move chemical weapons without an executive order from the president in a declared state of emergency. In addition, Colorado and Utah would be expected to fight any attempt to ship weapons.
A spokesman for Bechtel confirmed Tuesday that about 75 companies have been told not to submit proposals for five projects that had been out to bid: construction of an access control point, an earthwork package, an underground utility package, fencing, surveying and a small engineering contract to certify construction work.
Those five contracts total between $25 million and $30 million of the $60 million budgeted for Phase 1 work. Some of that work already has been completed, including an office building and a power substation.
Salazar said that in a visit to Pueblo over the weekend, "The two major issues that I heard about from citizens in Pueblo was abandoning water neutralization and transporting the mustard agent out of Pueblo. They, No. 1, are not going to be transporting the mustard agent out of the Pueblo Depot and, No.2, they're committed to the water neutralization technology."
Allard said that he and Salazar received assurances on both issues and Klein and Wakefield also promised Wynne would send them a clarification of his controversial memo.
In addition, at Salazar's request, the Defense Department officials said they would give the Colorado senators a monthly briefing on the status of the Pueblo program.
Local officials have complained that the Defense Department is shortchanging the Pueblo and Blue Grass programs to cover cost overruns at other plants where incinerators have been built.
Allard said, "That is a concern both Sen. Salazar and myself have and I think that memo will clarify that."