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Army may move weapons stockpile
By Ryan Garrett/Register News Writer

The Army may move its chemical weapons stockpile at the Blue Grass Army Depot to another site to meet the Chemical Weapons Convention's demilitarization deadline of 2012, according to a document released Wednesday by the Chemical Weapons Working Group.

The announcement was confirmed later in the day by the U.S. Chemical Materials Agency, which is in charge of storing and eliminating the country's aging chemical weapons and agent stockpiles.

"We have just received our direction from the Department of Defense on the matter," Michael Parker, director of the Army's Chemical Materials Agency and program manager of the Department of Defense's Assembled Chemical Weapons Alternatives, said in a press release.

"It is premature at this time to comment on the content of the evaluations," Parker said. "The Army has just received the direction from the Office of the Secretary of Defense and is currently in the process of formulating its alternative evaluation strategy."

The internal document was released a week after the Berea-based citizen's watchdog organization released preliminary Pentagon budgets showing severe cuts in funding for Blue Grass and Pueblo (Colo.) Chemical Depot, making it impossible to destroy the weapons on-site as planned.

In the Jan. 10 memorandum, signed by Patrick J. Wakefield, deputy assistant to the secretary of defense, the Army and the Program Manager for the Assembled Chemical Weapons Alternatives were directed to develop alternative plans to meet the 2012 deadline.

"The Army is to address safeguarding the chemical weapons stockpile when relocation among sites is considered as one of these alternatives," the memo states.

The memo calls for an interim briefing by Feb. 18, with a full briefing by March 21.

The announcement contradicts statements Pentagon officials made earlier this week when they met with U.S. Sens. Wayne Allard and Ken Salazar of Colorado, a Republican and Democrat, respectively.

The officials assured the senators they did not plan to move chemical weapons from the Pueblo depot.

Opponents are challenging the possible transport, which would go against federal law and would require an executive order or the declaration of a national emergency to trump current statutes and prohibitions.

In a telephone press conference, Craig Williams, director of the Chemical Weapons Working Group, pointed to the National Defense Authorization Act of 1995, which prohibits the transfer of chemical munitions across state lines.

"There is a long history of government, contractor, oversight organizations and citizen's groups who have recognized transportation as a very dangerous option in the quest to rid our nation of these weapons of mass destruction," he said.

Williams also pointed to the Army's 1988 Record of Decision for its Chemical Stockpile Disposal Program, which noted that any shipment "would be accompanied by handling risks, chance of transportation accidents and threat of terrorist activities, which in turn, increase public health and safety risks."

"As we all know, a lot's changed since then," Williams said. "I think everyone would agree that the potential terrorist threat to the movement of weapons of mass destruction across this country has certainly increased in the post-9/11 era."

The Anniston Chemical Agent Disposal Facility incinerator in Alabama is the closest disposal facility to Blue Grass, but may not be the most likely target for a move.

"You've had people united at other sites and we've been kind of passive," said Evelyn Yates of Pine Bluff for Safe Disposal in Pine Bluff, Ark. "So we're going to receive things that others will not accept."

Pine Bluff has a poverty rate of about 28 percent, Yates said, leaving many of its residents more concerned with food and jobs than the operations of the depot.

"When you're worried about all the daily problems, then you're not so worried about what can and will happen," she said.

Despite all the talk, the alternative of transportation may be thrown out if there is enough opposition from government officials and the public, Williams said.

"If you start to think in terms of moving 523 tons of loaded munitions with agent, propellant, bursters and explosives on trains, trucks or airplanes over 400 miles from Kentucky to Anniston, Ala., and look at that in the context of what it takes them to move the Anniston stockpile half a mile (to an incinerator), it becomes quite surreal," Williams said.

The Chemical Weapons Working Group already is working with the Congressional delegations from Kentucky and Colorado, but that effort should be expanded, Williams said.

Williams suggested that delegations from other states with sites, as well as those from states between the sites, form a coalition to pressure the Pentagon to fully fund the chemical weapons disposal program.

The documents Williams' group released last week show that defense officials may slash funding at Blue Grass and Pueblo to a combined $31 million for fiscal year 2006, well below the $105 million the depot alone received last year.

The Army needs to spend about $200 million at each site to meet the accelerated disposal pace that has been called for since the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

"There's only one real solution to this issue," Williams said. "And that is the full funding to rid ourselves of these weapons nationally."

Ryan Garrett can be reached at rgarrett@richmondregister.com or at 623-1669, Ext. 234.