| Article
Last Updated: 04/12/2005 12:54:06 AM |
| Dump study still targets Utah Pentagon wants to send weapons for disposal despite opposition |
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WASHINGTON - The Pentagon said Monday it is plowing forward
with a study looking at shipping chemical weapons from Colorado to Utah for
disposal at the Army's Tooele incinerator, despite adamant bipartisan opposition
in Congress and a push in the Senate to quash the idea. Senators who have worked to scuttle any bid to relocate the weapons said the Defense Department is wasting its time and money on a futile report. "These chemical munitions are not going to be transported, one, because it's a violation of federal law and, two, because of community concerns with public safety," said Sen. Ken Salazar, D-Colo. "It makes . . . no sense whatsoever for you to be spending significant sums of money to be studying alternatives that we know are illegal under United States law." But Undersecretary of Defense Michael Wynne told senators they should know the options available. If moving the weapons were the only way to meet the 2012 deadline imposed by international treaty to dispose of the weapons, then senators could choose to change the law or to breach the treaty, he said. "If you really wanted to comply with the chemical weapons treaty you would accommodate some of the options we're considering, such as transportation," Wynne said. Wynne added that, during the winter, mustard gas would be relatively safe to ship from the Pueblo site. The mustard agent is relatively stable when it is cold. During the summer, it could be a problem, he said. But Sen. Wayne Allard, R-Colo., said that at some point the Defense Department needs to stop studying the issue and take action to implement the best technology available to dispose of the stockpiles if it wants to meet the deadline imposed by the international treaty. Under the Chemical Weapons Convention, the United States and other parties to the treaty have until 2012 to dispose of chemical weapons stockpiles. The Pentagon is studying numerous changes that might help meet that deadline, including moving the weapons from Pueblo, Colo., and Richmond, Ky., - where disposal facilities are planned - to existing incinerators, including the Tooele site. Senate appropriators, including Utah Sen. Bob Bennett, added language in a must-pass emergency spending bill that would prohibit the Defense Department from studying the issue of shipping chemical weapons across state lines. "It is against the law to transport these weapons across state lines," Bennett said last week when the Senate Appropriations Committee agreed to the provision. "Utah currently houses and is successfully disposing more than 40 percent of the nation's chemical stockpile. That's more than enough." The Senate is scheduled to debate the spending bill this week. But even if it passes, the House bill did not include the chemical weapons shipment provision, meaning the two chambers would have to work out differences in the bill. The Defense Department study is scheduled to be completed by April 30, so it is possible the Pentagon study could be done before Congress enacts its legislation prohibiting it. Craig Williams of the Chemical Weapons Working Group, a citizens watchdog group, said that he is somewhat surprised that the Pentagon continues to pursue shipping the weapons from Pueblo "given the fact that there's a law against it and the overwhelming negative bipartisan opposition from almost every site." Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. has said he opposes any proposal that ships waste to Utah. |