[CPEO-MEF] "Chemical weapons' disposal delayed"

[Lenny Siegel <lsiegel@cpeo.org>]

Chemical weapons' disposal delayed
U.S. won't be rid of arms until 2023

By Peter Eisler
USA TODAY
November 21, 2006

WASHINGTON - The Pentagon has extended its timeline to destroy its aging 
chemical weapons arsenal until 2023, despite concerns by Congress and 
watchdog groups that the stockpiles raise the risk of an accident or 
theft by terrorists.

The new schedule, outlined in Pentagon documents obtained by USA TODAY, 
means the military won't eliminate its stocks of deadly nerve gases and 
skin-blistering agents until 11 years after the 2012 deadline set by the 
international Chemical Weapons Convention. The U.S. government had 
already asked for a five-year extension from an earlier 2007 deadline.

Communities near the seven sites where weapons are stockpiled have long 
complained about the delays. Congress echoed those concerns this year, 
when it called eliminating the stockpiles "a homeland security 
imperative" and directed the Pentagon in a defense bill to "make every 
effort" to destroy them by the convention deadline or "soon thereafter."

...

For the entire article, see
http://www.usatoday.com/printedition/news/20061121/1a_lede21_dom.art.htm

For the sidebar "Status of Stockpiles," see
http://www.usatoday.com/printedition/news/20061121/1a_ledelist21_dom.art.htm

--


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


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