Pueblo Chieftain
August 13, 2003

Report: Keep Depot trash at home

By GAIL PITTS
THE PUEBLO CHIEFTAIN

Pueblo's message to the Army: Please let us clean up our own trash.

That's the essence of the draft letter from the Citizens' Advisory Commission to the Assembled Chemical Weapons Alternative which will be finalized at the CAC meeting at 6 p.m. Thursday at Pueblo Convention Center.

Couched in diplomatic language, the letter nevertheless reflects the adamant opposition the commission and other community members have to shipping neutralized waste from the Pueblo Chemical Depot's demilitarization plant.

Calling that option "unacceptable" to the community, Irene Kornelly, a member of the commission, wrote that the CAC believes shipping waste to New Jersey in tankers poses a threat for both safety and delay in completing the destruction of mustard agent weapons stored at the Depot.

While she noted that the members of the community are "grateful" to the ACWA program in offering options which its contractor believed to be able to accelerate the completion time, she raised the raised the spectre of endless protests and lawsuits from communities across the country and the prospect of great delay in the event of an accident.

The CAC "respectfully requests that the Program Manager . . . adopt and follow the recommendations of the CAC and the Pueblo community to implement the acceleration options . . . but not transport the agent or explosive hydrolysate to an offi-site location."

She also noted that completing the biodegradation in Pueblo would add immensely to the local economy in both sales and jobs.