Clinton and CW destruction

[Aimee Houghton <aimeeh@igc.org>]

From: Aimee Houghton <aimeeh@igc.org>

CHEMICAL WEAPONS WORKING GROUP 
P.O. Box 467, Berea, Kentucky 40403
Phone: (606) 986-7565 Fax: (606) 986-2695
e-mail: kefwilli@acs.eku.edu

 for further information:
 Craig Williams (606)986-7565
 Bob Schaeffer (617) 489-0461

for immediate release: July 19, 1996

PRESIDENT ENDORSES CONGRESSIONAL FUNDING FOR ALTERNATIVES
TO CHEMICAL WEAPONS INCINERATION .

President Clinton asks Secretary of Defense Perry to make
alternatives project the highest priority in the Chemical
Weapons Disposal Program.

 In a letter to Senator Wendell Ford (D-KY), President
Clinton threw the weight of the White House behind efforts
to develop alternatives to the Army's plans to incinerate
the U.S. stockpile of Chemical Weapons.

 Citing his pleasure with the agreement reached between the
Administration and the Senate on the Ford-Brown amendment to this years 
Defense Bill, which calls for $60 million to develop safer and more 
environmentally sound alternatives to the incineration system, Clinton 
said, "I recognize that technology is changing rapidly and that it's our
responsibility to explore all alternative means ofdestruction." 

 The Ford amendment, co-sponsored by Senator Hank Brown (R-CO), would 
provide three years within which the alternative program could 
demonstrate more acceptable approaches for disposal. It would also 
prohibit purchases of incineration specific equipment for the Kentucky and
Colorado sites in 1997, and prohibit the Army's Program Manager for 
Chemical Demilitarization, who grassroots activists consider 
pro-incineration, from overseeing the alternative program. 

 As the Joint Conference prepares to meet to work out the differing 
versions of this years Defense Authorization Bill, the President wrote 
Ford saying, "I urge the House-Senate Conference Committee to act 
favorably on this amendment. I am asking the Secretary of Defense to 
work with the Congress to ensure that this pilot project receives the highest
priority in the Chemical Demilitarization Program."

 Reaction from the Chemical Weapons Working Group (CWWG), a
national coalition of citizens groups from sites where these weapons 
are stored, was swift and positive. Craig Williams, CWWG spokesperson 
said, "The President's strong endorsement is a welcome and long awaited 
addition to the growing number of Americans who are wanting serious 
consideration of alternatives to the Army's unacceptable incineration
scheme." 

 Clinton did not rule out incineration, citing his belief that a 
"well-designed incineration system can be safe and environmentally 
acceptable." The President did state that, "we will not pass on an 
opportunity simultaneously to look for alternatives to incineration." 

 According to Williams, "The Army's track record has shown that the 
incineration program is anything but well-designed. There have been 
numerous problems, including twelve live nerve agent releases into the 
atmosphere since the program began. The project is eleven years behind 
schedule and 700% over budget. Nothing about this program is well-designed."

 Meanwhile, a Federal District Court, in Salt Lake City, will begin 
hearing motions on Monday, July 22nd, brought by the CWWG, the Vietnam 
Veterans of America Foundation and the Sierra Club, to bar the Army 
from moving forward with incineration at their Tooele, Utah facility. 

 "Communities are ready to work with the Pentagon, Congress
and the permit authorities once acceptable approaches for disposal are 
developed," said Williams. "The President's actions bring us a 
significant step closer to accomplishing that goal," he concluded.

 --30--

Copies President Clinton's Letter are available from the CWWG office.