136th Year... and still on the job!	Thursday April 29, 2004

Puebloans to Pentagon: Fund demil work

By JOHN NORTON
THE PUEBLO CHIEFTAIN

If it hasn't been clear from 1,700 miles away, Pentagon officials found out in no uncertain terms Wednesday night that Puebloans were not going to accept any delays in the destruction of chemical weapons here and would tenaciously fight to restore funding in next year's federal budget for the program.

The Community Advisory Commission monitoring the chemical demilitarization program found out nearly three months ago that the fiscal 2005 budget submitted to Congress by the White House cut most of the funding for research and design of the weapons destruction plant.

The Pueblo program was expected to receive nearly $152 million for research and design work next year but the budget submitted called for slightly less than $5 million while other plants were fully funded or received extra money to cover overruns.

Since then, Colorado's congressional delegation and local officials have been trying to find ways to get the money restored and get at the reasons for the cuts.

Last week, Sen. Wayne Allard, R-Colo., was told that the Pentagon wanted the Pueblo program redesigned to cut costs, something that could delay work here six months to two years.

At Wednesday night's meeting of the commission, the head of the Pentagon office where the budget proposal originated appeared before a hostile crowd of nearly 100 people at the Pueblo Convention Center.

Pat Wakefield

Pat Wakefield, deputy assistant to the defense secretary for chemical demilitarization and counterproliferation, admitted that funding originally expected for the Pueblo operation would be used instead to make up for cost overruns at other facilities.

Ross Vincent, a commission member representing the Sierra Club, said, "It looks like we're being punished while the other sites that have botched the job are having money thrown at them."

Wakefield said that other plants are running over budget but when asked by Vincent why they weren't penalized, Wakefield answered, "To mothball those plants would be even more irresponsible."

Wakefield defended the action by saying that if the money wasn't shifted, there would be layoffs and costly plant shutdowns. He also said that an analysis by an independent Pentagon agency showed that the accelerated program being designed by Bechtel and its partner contractors for Pueblo would far exceed the expected cost of the program here.

"We're not talking about a little bit of money," he said. "We're talking hundreds of millions of dollars."

Pueblo officials have not been understanding in their reaction, pointing out that it was the Army that ordered the accelerated, and more expensive, program in the wake of the 9/11 attacks, fearing that chemical weapons stockpiles might be targeted by terrorists.

Some also have expressed a suspicion that Wakefield's office is punishing Pueblo by withholding funds that would create local jobs because the community successfully headed off the Army's original plan to incinerate the weapons and insisted that an environmentally-friendly, water-based method be used instead.

Theories have even circulated that the Army will try to move the 2,600 tons of mustard agent in mortar rounds and shells to another site for incineration.

Without being asked about any of those issues, Wakefield addressed them during his presentation. "We still believe in the project and I don't want anyone to think otherwise," he said. "Was this to get even? Positively no."

He also said that transporting the weapons was prohibited by federal law and no one has introduced legislation to repeal that.

The water-based method of neutralizing the mustard agent was supported, he said, adding, "No one ever challenged the veracity of the design. This was not a technology analysis at all."

He said that the reason the Pueblo program was being reassessed was that an analysis of its overall costs indicated they would be much greater based on the larger facility Bechtel was proposing.

The chemical weapons destruction program is facing a number of challenges. It's already behind schedule under the terms of an international treaty that called for all weapons to be destroyed in 2007. The United States has gotten an extension to 2012 but delays persist. There have been cost overruns at the other sites around the country along with protests by the local communities that have delayed programs.

That was another point made by the Pueblo officials - that the permitting process has been faster here than anywhere else - and Wakefield agreed.

The overall cost of the nationwide program has grown, too, jumping to $24 billion from $15 billion after the 2001 attacks triggered new fears about the vulnerability of chemical arsenals.

Pueblo's plant has yet to be built and Wakefield said it would be better to find ways to cut costs now before buildings were constructed and people were hired.

There were some surprises at the meeting, too. It was pointed out that the Pueblo Chemical Depot will get $45 million in military construction funds in fiscal 2005 that will be used to prepare the weapons destruction site.

Commission Chairman John Klomp said that was the first he'd heard about that money. And there was another $70 million from this year's budget for Pueblo that would be carried over to 2005.

Klomp urged Wakefield to find a way to bring other carryover funds in the program to Pueblo to restore funding here.