[CPEO-MEF] Chemical Weapons Hearings

[kefcrowe@acs.eku.edu]

Chemical Weapons Working Group
P.O. Box 467    Berea, KY  40403
(859) 986-7565    fax:  (859) 986-2695

for more information:
Craig Williams	   (859) 986-7565

=46OR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:  WEDNESDAY, APRIL 25, 2001

SECRET ARMY DOCUMENT REVEALS CHEM. WEAPONS INCINERATION
PROGRAM CANNOT MEET DEADLINES SET BY INT'L. TREATY
Community Leaders Cite Pattern of "Lies and Cover-ups" to Deceive Congress
U.S. Senate Committee leader says the standard for
chemical weapons incinerators "ought to be no emissions."

An internal Army study, made public at a Congressional hearing today,
demonstrates that the nation's chemical weapons incineration program is so
far behind schedule that the U.S. cannot meet international treaty
deadlines for destroying the arsenal of deadly chemical agent.  Leaders of
the Chemical Weapons Working Group (CWWG), who advocate technological
alternatives to incineration, released the official "Operations Schedule
Task Force 2000 Final Report" in invited testimony before the Senate
Defense Appropriations Subcommittee, charging that a pattern of "lies and
cover-ups" by the Army's Program Manager for Chemical Destruction created
the problems.

Based on the internal report, dated October 2000, disposal operations at
six of the eight chemical weapons stockpile sites could not be completed in
compliance with U.S. treaty commitments, according to CWWG calculations.
Under the Chemical Weapons Convention, ratified by the U.S. in 1997, the
deadline for weapons disposal is 2007, or 2012 if a five-year extension is
requested and granted.  By the Army's revised projections, however,
chemical weapons destruction cannot be completed until 2014 at two sites
and as late as 2018 at another.

Witnesses from communities where incinerators are scheduled to be built and
operated urged Congress to use the new information to restructure the
chemical weapons destruction program and pursue alternatives to
incineration.

 "The Army has used the treaty deadline as a club to beat communities into
accepting incineration as a disposal technology, despite the existence of
safer, cleaner disposal methods," said CWWG leader Craig Williams, who
lives near a proposed incinerator site in Kentucky. "In doing so, the Army
ignored a Congressional mandate to offer workers and the public 'maximum
protection' during the disposal process. Now that we know incineration
cannot meet treaty deadlines, there's no reason not to pursue better
disposal technologies."

Today's hearing was called by Alabama Senator Richard Shelby in response to
growing concerns among his constituents about the safety of an Army
chemical weapons incinerator being constructed in Anniston. A similar
facility in Tooele, Utah, has repeatedly been shut down due to agent leaks
and other operating difficulties. As a result of these problems, the
incineration program is already 14 years behind schedule and 600% over
budget, according to recent General Accounting Office (GAO) studies.

Defense Appropriations Committee Chairman Ted Stevens (R-AK) responded to
CWWG testimony saying that the standard for chemical weapons incinerators
"ought to be no emissions, and if that's not the case, we should shut them
down....What does it take to shut these down?"

"The Army has repeatedly misled the American people, the media, and this
very committee about its incineration program," said Rufus Kinney, an
Anniston, Alabama resident.  "It seems that the Army is more concerned
about protecting itself from the truth than it is protecting our
communities."  In fact, the Army testified at today's hearing that
incineration operations would be complete by 2007; then left the hearing
room without waiting to hear the citizens' testimony.

Other documents released by the CWWG today show:
=85 the Army grossly misrepresented cost estimates for the waste disposal
program.  While the agency has publicly claimed the incineration program's
life-cycle cost would be $14.1 billion, an internal study shows an
additional "Known Cost Growth" of over $6 billion, and a "Likely Cost
Growth" of another $4 billion, bringing the total life cycle costs to over
$24 billion;
=85 permits for an incinerator in Oregon were obtained fraudulently when the
Army misrepresented the ability of incineration systems to work correctly,
as revealed in a confidential memo from Oregon Department of Environmental
Quality.

 "Based on this newly-released evidence, it should be clear that the entire
chemical weapons disposal program must be restructured to bring about more
honesty and accountability to the public and federal decision-makers,"
Williams concluded. "When it comes to destruction of the most lethal
chemicals on the planet, our lives could well depend on sound management
and honesty.  Currently, this program has neither."

At today's hearing, Kentucky Senator Mitch McConnell said of the Army's
Program Manager for Chemical Demilitarization (PMCD), "If George Washington
ran the Army like PMCD runs this program, we'd all be drinking tea and
eating crumpets."

-- 30 --
Elizabeth Crowe
Chemical Weapons Working Group
Non-Stockpile Chemical Weapons Citizens Coalition
(859) 986-0868

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