[CPEO-MEF] Arms destruction raises concerns

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Arms destruction raises concerns
Allard fears 'preferred' system won't be used to destroy Pueblo mustard 
gas
By  Bill McAllister
Denver Post Washington Bureau Chief

Thursday, July 04, 2002 - WASHINGTON - Sen. Wayne Allard, R-Colo., fears 
that the Pentagon may retreat from its tentative commitment to use a 
water-based system to destroy 2,600 tons of Cold War chemical weapons at 
the Pueblo Chemical Depot, the senator's spokesman said Wednesday.

Allard spokesman Sean Conway said that concern prompted Allard and Sen. 
Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., to write the Defense Department protesting the 
possibility that an Army command that may be hostile to the water-based 
solution will have a major role in the destruction at the Colorado 
facility. McConnell joined the protest because his state also has a 
stock of chemical weapons that must be destroyed.

The Pentagon is nearing a final decision on how to destroy the Pueblo 
weapons, a requirement of a chemical-weapons treaty the U.S. signed 
several years ago.

Much to the delight of Allard and Pueblo officials, the Pentagon 
indicated in March that the water-based method was its "preferred" way 
of neutralizing the large quantities of mustard gas stored at the 
Colorado facility. Local officials have expressed fears that traditional 
incineration methods might allow the deadly chemicals to leak into the 
air.

This article can be viewed in its entirety at:
http://www.denverpost.com/Stories/0,1413,36%257E53%257E711815%257E,00.html

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