| Article
Last Updated: 04/20/2005 |
| Pentagon drops its study on moving chemical weapons
to Utah Wide opposition: The plan would have brought the deadly materials to Tooele for disposal |
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WASHINGTON
- In the face of overwhelming political opposition, the Pentagon has abandoned
a study that could have meant shipping chemical weapons from Colorado to
Utah to be incinerated. "Finally, common sense has prevailed,” said Sen. Wayne Allard, R-Colo. The Pentagon had launched a study earlier this year to determine if it might be quicker or less expensive to relocate chemical munitions from storage depots such as the one in Pueblo, Colo., to operating incinerators, such as the one in Tooele. It was met with broad opposition in Congress, which had already banned such weapons shipments under federal law, and by officials in Utah, including Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. Last week, Undersecretary of Defense Michael Wynne defended at least considering the options, despite the legal implications, saying Congress should be aware of any avenues that might save money or help meet a deadline for disposing of the weapons. Under an international treaty, the United States has until 2012 to dispose of its chemical weapons stockpile. But now, less than two weeks from the scheduled deadline for the study, Wynne has backed down, giving the green light for work to resume at planned chemical neutralization facilities in Pueblo and in Bluegrass, Ky., where work had been halted while the study was under way. Wynne said in a memo that chemical disposal officials have the information and ability to balance cost, schedule, performance objectives, safety and security “without the necessity to address the concept of transportation at this time.” "The Pentagon's decision is good news for Utah and underscores our efforts to block additional chemical weapons from coming to the state,” said Utah Sen. Bob Bennett's spokeswoman, Mary Jane Collipriest. Bennett, Allard and Kentucky Sen. Mitch McConnell had added language to an emergency spending bill currently in the Senate to kill the Pentagon's chemical weapons study, but it is unlikely that bill would pass before the study is due April 30. Wynne's decision frees up $300 million in frozen funds for the current year. He also ordered the program director for Pueblo and Bluegrass to move quickly to formulate a budget and a development schedule. "This is the right decision, and it is time to move forward with destroying the weapons as soon as possible,” Allard said. The Tooele Chemical Agent Disposal Facility began incinerating chemical weapons in 1996. So far, it has disposed of about half of the weapons stockpile stored at nearby Deseret Chemical Depot. Deseret originally was home to 45 percent of the nation's entire chemical weapons stockpile. “I am hopeful this means that the Department of Defense has decided that the chemical weapons currently housed in Pueblo will be destroyed at Pueblo. That's the right decision,” Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, said in a statement. “These weapons are safe and contained where they are, and we are on target to eliminate them completely without placing our communities at risk.” |