Pentagon now plans to destroy chemical munitions in Pueblo

By Dick Foster, Rocky Mountain News
April 20, 2005

Pentagon officials have abruptly reversed a previous decision and announced plans to proceed with destruction of 2,600 tons of chemical weapons in Pueblo.

The decision, made public Tuesday, apparently ends the Pentagon's battle with Colorado and Kentucky congressional delegations over delays and the withholding of $372 million to begin building disposal facilities at Pueblo and Blue Grass Army Depot in Kentucky.

Members of Congress from both states criticized a study into whether some or all of the weapons could be sent to other places where they could be destroyed more quickly.

The Pueblo project is estimated to cost more than $1.6 billion and create more than 1,000 jobs over its lifetime. It will include the construction of a water-based disposal plant and the destruction of more than 780,000 mustard agent munitions stored at the Pueblo Chemical Depot for decades.

An international treaty requires the U.S. to destroy all of its chemical weapons, including nerve and mustard agents, by 2012; the country can apply for an extension to 2017.

"I think finally they have seen the light, and common sense has prevailed," Sen. Wayne Allard, R-Colo., said of the Pentagon's decision.

Sen. Ken Salazar, D-Colo., called the decision "good news" and pledged to work "to ensure that this program goes forward with the urgency it demands."

The reversal comes less than a week after Allard and Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., pledged to block any Pentagon effort to delay or halt the Pueblo and Blue Grass projects.

The senators inserted language in the supplemental appropriations bill April 13 that prohibited the Pentagon from transferring money appropriated for Pueblo or Kentucky to other chemical weapons destruction programs underway in other states.

The language also prohibited the Pentagon from studying the feasibility of transporting the Pueblo and Kentucky munitions to other sites for disposal.

"The supplemental appropriation gave Sen. McConnell and myself an opportunity to put in some pretty tight language, and I think that's what finally brought them to their knees," Allard said.

No timetable has been set for resumption of the Pueblo project, which was suspended in February over the objections of both states' congressional delegations.

Plans to dispose of the chemical agents at Pueblo, Kentucky and six other sites began more than 19 years ago.