138th Year... and
still on the job!
Sunday April 16,
2006
|
|
||
|
|
138th Year... and
still on the job!
|
Sunday April 16,
2006
|
Sen. Wayne Allard, R-Colo., said he plans to make an important announcement at Monday night's meeting of the group overseeing the destruction of chemical weapons here.
Allard and Rep. John Salazar, D-Colo., are both expected to be at the meeting of the Colorado Chemical Weapons Citizens Advisory Commission. The meeting begins at 6 p.m. at the Pueblo Convention Center.
The congressional delegation members will be there because the agenda also includes a number of Defense Department officials directly responsible for the weapons destruction program, including Assistant Secretary of Defense for Chemical Demilitarization Dale Klein.
Lawmakers from Colorado and Kentucky, where the Blue Grass Army Depot's chemical weapons stockpile is due to be destroyed, are concerned about delays in both programs. Those worries may have been fueled further by the release last week of a letter from Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld to Congress, saying that the United States would not meet a 2012 treaty deadline to destroy the weapons.
The Pueblo and Blue Grass programs were delayed for about two years after Pentagon officials balked at cost projections and ordered that they be re-designed. The costs were higher because of earlier Defense Department orders to accelerate the programs in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, but officials backtracked on those plans when they saw the price tags.
Both projects will use a water neutralization system to break down the weapons, a method supported by environmental and community groups over the Pentagon's original plan to incinerate the weapons.
Allard said last week that the Pueblo work could have been completed by the the treaty deadline if it hadn't been for the delays and he was concerned that without that deadline, more delays could be coming.
On Friday, he said, "I am looking forward to meeting with the concerned citizens of Pueblo to discuss recent developments surrounding the demilitarization of chemical weapons at the Pueblo Depot.
"And I will have an important announcement concerning the action I plan to take regarding the Department of Defense's recent admission that the demilitarization of chemical weapons stored at the Pueblo Depot and elsewhere will not be completed in time to comply with the Chemical Weapons Treaty deadline.
"I want to make sure this failure to meet the deadline will not impact the funding for the scheduled destruction of chemical weapons at the depot."
He added that he expects to get some clarification from Klein at Monday's meeting. "I want to hear what he has to say about the department's timetable for demilitarization, the possibility of transporting the byproduct off site and the impact missing the treaty deadline will have on our international standing.
"Most importantly, I want to hear his assessment of what the department's funding requests for chemical weapons cleanup projects will be in the coming years."
Shipment of the untreated water from the process is major issue for the local commission. Called hydrolysate, the revised plan called for shipping it to another facility to be treated. However, Bechtel, the prime contractor, has included on-site treatment as an option after CAC commission members adamantly said they didn't want the hydrolysate shipped out.
Treating it on-site would save water because after the chemicals are broken down by bacteria, the water can be re-used in the breakdown of mustard agent.
In addition, a number of states and communities have mobilized to protest hydrolysate shipments through their areas from other demilitarization facilities and the dumping of the treated water in their rivers.
Along with the appearances by Pentagon officials, Bechtel is expected to show its 3-D images of how the plant at the Pueblo Chemical Depot will look.