136th Year... and
still on the job!
Tuesday June 30, 2004
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136th Year... and
still on the job!
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Tuesday June 30, 2004
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Ben Nighthorse Campbell |
John Klomp |
Wayne Allard |
The U.S. Senate has begun the second step to assure $147 million for weapons destruction at the Pueblo Chemical Depot following a vote to restore $50 million to the defense budget.
Late last week, the Senate voted to include $50 million in the Defense Appropriation bill for the removal of chemical weapons at the depot.
U.S. Sens. Wayne Allard and Ben Nighthorse Campbell, both R-Colo., issued a joint press release on Monday, announcing the $50 million appropriation and adding that the chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee has given assurances that full funding will be restored.
The most important step in the process came last Wednesday when the Senate authorized the $147 million for the project that will eventually eliminate 2,600 tons of mustard agent stockpiled at the depot.
"That was the first and most important step," said Angela de Rocha, spokeswoman for Allard. "They can't appropriate a nickel without the authorization first."
Funding for projects like these requires two pieces of legislation: the authorization bill, which passed the Senate 97-0 last Wednesday, and an appropriations bill, which must first go through an Appropriations Committee.
The House of Representatives must also pass similar bills before the final budget can be signed off by both houses of Congress and eventually by the president.
Campbell, a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, called the $50 million another "major victory" for Puebloans looking to get the chemical weapons destroyed as quickly as possible.
"The chemical weapons stockpile in the facility needs to be disposed of for homeland security reasons, and in order to meet the 2012 Chemical Weapons Convention Treaty deadline," Campbell said.
While the $50 million included in the appropriations bill falls short of the $147 million approved last week, Allard essentially guaranteed that full funding for the project is on its way.
"I have secured a commitment from (Senate Appropriations) Chairman Ted Stevens (R-Alaska) that the funding will be provided through the Appropriations Committee as the project proceeds," Allard said in the release. "Bottom line here is that funding will be forthcoming so that the Pueblo Depot cleanup can move forward with the destruction of more than 700,000 rounds of chemical munitions there."
The appropriation is also a major step forward from where the process started in February.
"You've got to remember that we started basically from zero," de Rocha said. "So this is a huge step forward toward securing full funding."
Last February, only $5 million for Pueblo was included in the Defense budget for fiscal year 2005, igniting an aggressive campaign by the Colorado congressional delegation and the local Citizens Advisory Committee to restore full funding to the project.
County Commissioner John Klomp, who chairs the citizens group, said the appropriation of the $50 million was good news, but the committee hopes to see another $100 million appropriated this year for the project, something he believes can be worked out through continued negotiations and debate among the Senate.
"Initially, (the $50 million) was the amount we indicated was absolutely necessary to keep us on track," Klomp said. "This will keep us moving forward, but what it will not do is provide the funding necessary to procure the equipment necessary to get the facility built."
Klomp said much of the equipment will be brand new, prototype equipment and its construction and purchase will be a necessity by the 2006 fiscal year, at the latest.
Klomp said the project will cost about $1.5 billion, which means that it will take an average of $150 million a year for the next 10 years to get it built.
He said he's hoping that the remaining $100 million for 2005 will eventually be included in the budget.
"If we don't get it in ’05, then it's going to have to be in the appropriations bill in 2006 fiscal year," he said. "So not only would it involve that appropriation, but then the regular appropriation for 2006. That puts some real stress on the federal budget for years to come."
Nonetheless, Klomp said he sees Allard and Campbell's announcement Monday as a victory.