136th Year... and
still on the job!
Thursday May 27, 2004
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136th Year... and
still on the job!
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Thursday May 27, 2004
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Congress may be ready to reinstate funding for accelerated destruction of mustard agent weapons at the Pueblo Chemical Depot, at least for the next fiscal year. However, the Defense Department doesn't appear ready to give up in its opposition.
The department's inspector general has launched an audit of the program, investigating how prime contractor Bechtel has run things so far and whether the whole program has been structured to increase its cost.
The audit received little mention during Wednesday night's monthly meeting of the Citizens Advisory Commission overseeing the destruction of chemical weapons, but was a hot topic in many side discussions among Puebloans and others who believe Pueblo is being punished because it’s mounted an end run around a cash-strapped Defense Department.
A recurring theme in that criticism has been the seemingly abrupt change in plans for speeding up the destruction process. In the wake of the 9/11 attacks, destruction of chemical weapons stockpiles like the 2,600 tons of mustard agent at the Pueblo facility became a major priority. In response, Bechtel and its partners came up with a proposal that would speed up the destruction process here.
But when Pentagon analysts projected costs over the lifetime of the project, it was found to be too expensive and alternative options were requested.
In the meantime, since it will take 4 to 6 months to come up with alternatives, the fiscal 2005 defense budget was submitted with only $4.9 million for research and design of the Pueblo project instead of the nearly $152 million that had been expected.
Colorado's congressional delegation immediately began working to get the funding back and Sen. Wayne Allard, R-Colo., reported earlier this month that the Senate Armed Services Committee had voted to restore the $147 million to the fiscal 2005 budget for Pueblo. The funding recommendation still has to go through the appropriations committees of both houses.
Local commission members had copies of a letter from Acting Under Secretary of Defense Michael W. Wynne asking the department's inspector general to investigate the Pueblo project.
The letter pointed out that the Pueblo project was to cost a total of $1.6 billion and employ at the most 587 workers in a 95,000-square-foot facility.
The current plan calls for 1,100 workers in a 240,000-square-foot plant and "could end up costing the government hundreds of millions of dollars more than anticipated," his letter stated.
It goes on to ask the inspector general to look into the structure of the contract with Bechtel and its team to see if the contract gave Bechtel an incentive to propose a larger facility than was needed and other aspects such as the handling of public affairs functions and why staffing has grown.
A draft report is expected in July.
Pueblo County Commissioner John Klomp, who chairs the citizens commission, said that everyone involved has been open with the auditors and that the entire process has been "very transparent, unlike other demil programs in other areas."