Army study will consider moving some of weapons stockpile

Officials don't know if Newport will be affected

The Army is conducting a study to consider moving some of the chemical weapons stockpile located at various storage sites across the United States.

It was not immediately known if the Newport Chemical Depot would be affected, said Sandy Clawson-Freeo, public affairs officer from Aberdeen Proving Grounds, Md., on Friday.

Until the evaluation is complete and the Department of Defense makes a decision, no one knows what options or alternatives are being considered, she said.

"This study won't put a stop to anything they are doing right now," Clawson-Freeo said. "Everything is going forward."

The chemical agent destruction facility at Newport is set to destroy 1,269 tons of VX, a lethal nerve agent. A trained and certified staff awaits the Department of Defense and Congress for approval to proceed with the destruction. One drop of VX the size of a BB can kill a human, the Army has said.

The Newport project has cost about $1.24 billion. To maintain the depot and the disposal facility costs about $360,000 per day, the Army has said.

Once destruction begins at Newport, the entire stockpile is expected to be destroyed in about two years, said Army Col. Jesse Barber on Jan. 11.

The Army announced Wednesday it "received official direction from the Department of Defense to consider and evaluate relocation of some of the chemical weapons stockpile," said Terry Arthur, Newport Chemical Depot Army spokeswoman.

During the Reagan administration, the United States signed the Chemical Weapons convention, an international treaty that calls for the destruction of all chemical weapons stockpiles.

The current 100 percent destruction date is April 29, 2007. But last year, the U.S. requested and received an extension to Dec. 31, 2007 for its 45 percent destruction deadline. The original 45 percent deadline was April 29, 2005.

"It is expected that the U.S. will apply for a one-time, five-year overall destruction deadline delay to April 29, 2012," said Clawson-Freeo.

The Army currently stores chemical weapons at eight sites across the nation: Tooele, Utah; Anniston, Ala; Umatilla, Ore.; Pine Bluff, Ark.; Edgewood, Md.; Richmond, Ky., Pueblo, Colo., and Newport.

Disposal facilities operate in Utah, Alabama, Oregon and Maryland and are expected to open this year in Indiana and Arkansas, a Chemical Materials Agency news release said Wednesday

For years, the Army has said the chemical weapons from each of the country's eight stockpiles must be destroyed on-site, although it has made efforts to destroy the byproduct of the weapons elsewhere.

In 1968, the Army tried to transport VX from Newport to disposal in the Atlantic Ocean. Former U.S. Rep. John T. Myers later attributed the failure to do so to opposition by environmentalists.

Jeff Lindblad, an Army spokesman in Aberdeen, recently said federal law prohibits the Army's newest relocation proposal.Congress prohibited the shipment of chemical weapons when it signed the Chemical Weapons Convention with other nations.

Clawson-Freeo would not speculate on what sites the Army is considering. Currently, the matter is under study only.

Craig Williams of the Chemical Weapons Working Group of Kentucky has said Kentucky's stockpile cannot be safely moved.The CWWG is a national coalition of more than 200 citizen organizations whose mission is to ensure that destruction of chemical weapons is done safely for the public and the environment.

Williams said the aging weapons in the stockpile contain explosives that should be destroyed on-site.

U.S. Sen. Evan Bayh, D-Ind., has said he will do everything possible to keep the Newport Chemical Agent Destruction facility on schedule to neutralize VX and remove the lethal threat VX has posed for Vermillion County citizens for nearly 40 years.

Patricia Pastore can be reached at (812) 231-4271 or pat.pastore@tribstar.com.