[CPEO-MEF] Chem Weapons incineration may go well beyond deadline

[Lenny Siegel <lsiegel@cpeo.org>]

News Release
Chemical Weapons Working Group
May 11, 2006

INTERNAL DEFENSE DOCUMENTS SHOW CHEM-WEAPONS INCINERATORS WILL BURN FOR 
AN ADDITIONAL 9-11 YEARS

Local Army Spokespeople Continue to Mislead Communities About Schedule

Internal Department of Defense documents, dated 13 April and released 
today by the Chemical Weapons Working Group (CWWG), show chemical 
weapons incinerators operating well beyond the 2012 extended deadline 
required by International Treaty.  Although a 10 April memo from 
Secretary Rumsfeld confirmed missing the 2012 deadline, specific 
schedule projections had not been revealed until now.

The documents show the following operational completion dates for the 
four U.S. incinerators: Arkansas - 1st Qtr. 2016; Utah - 1st Qtr. 2016; 
Alabama - 4th Qtr. 2016; and,Oregon - 3rd Qtr. 2017.  The original 
projected completion date for all sites, presented to Congress in 1985, 
was 1994.

CWWG Director, Craig Williams said, "With each new schedule projection, 
it becomes more and more obvious that incineration is not the 'mature, 
robust and reliable' technology the Army promised to communities back in 
the 80s."

"And given the risks associated with incineration and longer storage 
periods, the Army should be obligated to share accurate information with 
affected residents," Williams continued. "Instead, local Army 
spokespeople continue to give out erroneous schedule projections. Just 
yesterday, an Army spokesperson at the Alabama site declared, after an 
accident there Monday, that the incinerator is still 'on track' to 
finish its work by 2010. That's six years sooner than the official 
projection."

Similar claims have been made recently at other burn sites. "When Army 
spokespeople mislead communities about incinerator schedules, residents 
can only wonder what else they aren't being told--for instance, 
information about leaks and other safety and environmental violations," 
Williams said.

In March of this year over sixty organizations signed a letter 
requesting specific information be provided to Alabama citizens 
regarding operations at that incinerator. No formal response has been 
issued to date.

At four other stockpile sites citizens were successful in demanding 
alternatives to incineration. Neutralization of Maryland's stockpile has 
been completed and Indiana's stockpile is projected to be neutralized by 
early 2012.  The Kentucky and Colorado neutralization facilities are 
slated to begin construction later this year. Although no official 
completion dates are noted for these two sites in the documents released 
today, Army officials in charge of those sites predict completion in 
late 2014 or early 2015.

In addition to the information on schedule, the latest Defense documents 
also peg the current cost of the disposal program at over $32 billion. 
The original cost was projected to be $1.85 billion.

--30--

For the original press release, go to
http://www.cwwg.org/pr_05.11.06schedule.html
--


Lenny Siegel
Director, Center for Public Environmental Oversight
c/o PSC, 278-A Hope St., Mountain View, CA 94041
Voice: 650/961-8918 or 650/969-1545
Fax: 650/961-8918
<lsiegel@cpeo.org>
http://www.cpeo.org


_______________________________________________
Military mailing list
Military@list.cpeo.org
http://www.cpeo.org/mailman/listinfo/military