more information contact:
Craig Williams (859) 986 -7565
for immediate release: Tuesday, February 5, 2002
The Bush Administration's budget request sent to Congress yesterday
ranked the Army's chemical weapons disposal program "ineffective"
--
a word citizens have used to describe the Army's incineration
program
for years. Within the Department of Defense, the Chemical
Demilitarization program received the lowest ranking.
An "Explanation" section notes that, "The Army's
program to destroy
the U.S. Stockpile of chemical weapons is behind schedule."
and
"Costs have increased over 60%, from $15 billion to $24 billion.
These delays are the result of various difficulties, including
unrealistic schedules, site safety and environmental concerns,
and
poor planning."
According to Craig Williams, director of the Chemical Weapons
Working
Group, a national coalition working for safe chemical weapons
disposal, "The Administration has identified precisely the
same
problems we have been raising for more than 15 years - the program
is
unsafe, environmentally unsound and mismanaged. It's no wonder
its
billions over budget and decades behind schedule."
Williams also pointed out that the cost jump from $15 to $24
billion
is only the most recent in a long history of increases. "When
this
program began in 1985 the projected cost was $1.7 billion. That
means
the program is now 1400% over budget."
"We are particularly concerned about the safety and environmental
issues raised by the Administration," said Williams.
The Army chose incineration as its preferred method of disposal
in
1982. This approach has met with significant opposition ever since.
There have been more than a dozen occasions when nerve agents
have
escaped from the stacks of the Army's incinerators, there is concern
in the communities surrounding the storage sites about the chronic
emissions of other toxins resulting from burning these munitions.
Among the identified substances released during incineration
operations are PCBs, dioxins, mercury, lead, arsenic and other
known
poisons.
In Anniston Alabama, where the Governor recently announced
that he
intended to sue the Army to block chemical agent incineration
until
his safety concerns are addressed, CWWG member Brenda Lindell
commented, "These weapons need to be destroyed and the Army
needs the
money to do it. But the $1.5 billion requested shouldn't go to
the
Army until they can prove they are acting in the best interests
of
affected communities and American taxpayers. They need to operate
a
safe and efficient program and so far the Army has failed in both
categories. Citizens know it, the Bush Administration knows it.
It's
time for the Army to fess up and abandon incineration in favor
of
safer alternatives."
Copies of the Chemical Demilitarization budget request are
available
upon request.
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