CWWG


CWWG Releases Recommendations for Safe Chem Weapons Disposal

CHEMICAL WEAPONS WORKING GROUP
128 Main St.  Berea KY 40403
859-986-0868  859-986-2695 (F)
www.cwwg.org   kefcwwg@cwwg.org
for more information contact:
Elizabeth Crowe  (859) 986-0868
for immediate release:  April 30, 2007
WATCHDOG GROUP RELEASES RECOMMENDATIONS FOR SAFE CHEMICAL WEAPONS DISPOSAL AT TEN-YEAR ANNIVERSARY OF DISARMAMENT TREATY

To mark the tenth anniversary of U.S. ratification of the Chemical Weapons Convention, the Chemical Weapons Working Group today released a set of recommendations for Congress and the Army that will bring the U.S. closer to compliance with the treaty.

In April 2006 Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld admitted that the U.S. would not make the 2007 CWC deadline, nor would it likely make the extended deadline or 2012.  However internal Department of Defense documents show that the completion date may be as far away as 2023.

The Citizens Solution for Safe Chemical Weapons Disposal highlights problematic areas in the weapons disposal program such as the incineration of mustard agent in Oreogn, Utah, Alabama and Arkansas when the mustard agent contains high levels of mercury; lack of transparency and information sharing; shipment of chemical agent hydrolysate from Indiana against the communities' wishes; funding cuts to weapons disposal activities in Colorado and Kentucky; and much more.  Each of these problems has resulted in major cost increases and years of delays.

CWWG spokesperson Elizabeth Crowe said, "In 1997 our communities were excited about ratification of the treaty, and felt as though real progress was being made in the weapons disposal program.  Now weapons disposal is projected for completion more than 11 years after the deadline, the Pentagon is cutting funding for chemical weapons disposal, and refusing to consider common sense approaches that could save money and shave years off of the weapons destruction timeline."

The Citizens Solution provided the following recommendations to help bring the weapons disposal program back on track:
 Bob Palzer with the Oregon Sierra Club said neutralization of mustard agent is a major issue for all the chemical weapons incinerator sites, given the high concentrations of mercury found in the agent.  The CWWG released a report in September 2006 that provided a blueprint for mustard agent neutralization at chemical weapons incinerator sites, which Palzer said could save time and funding.  "Maryland is the only site in the continental U.S. that finished and that met the original treaty deadline, and it did so by neutralization," Palzer said.  "We need Congressional support to investigate neutralization of mustard agent at the other sites, too."

Vanessa Pierce of HEAL Utah noted that the Tooele weapons incinerator is planning on using a "hybrid neutralization" process because of problems with mercury in mustard agent, as well as with dislodging solidified mustard agent "heels" in munitions.  Pierce said, "As long as they are taking one step to neutralization, they should go all the way and prevent more toxic emissions while coming closer to treaty goals."

When it comes to funding of the weapons program, Dick Futrell from Richmond, Kentucky said local residents there and in Colorado are frustrated at Pentagon budget cuts for their sites, which make no sense.  "Even though we have a good local dialogue process, people here feel that they have no control over the funding issue.  A dialogue process on the national level would help the Pentagon keep the weapons disposal program a priority and stop the cycle of funding cuts and delays here," said Futrell.

Rufus Kinney, with the group Families Concerned About Nerve Gas Incineration in Alabama, said it is imperative that the Army be pushed to consider new approaches.  "When I testified before Congress in 2001 on this issue, the Army said that all of Alabama's weapons would be destroyed by 2007 or 2008," Kinney said.  "Now we know that completion date is many years away.  This is unacceptable.  If our government sincerely wants to meet the CWC treaty deadlines, it should take the recommendations in the Citizens Solution seriously."

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Copies of the Citizens Solution for Safe Chemical Weapons Disposal are available at http://www.cwwg.org or by request to lois@cwwg.org.

 

 





 

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