[CPEO-MEF] REUSE, CHEMWEAPONS: "Colorado’s $600M order to Army: Clear explosives, clean toxic water at Pueblo chemical weapons depot"

[Lenny Siegel <lsiegel@cpeo.org>]

Colorado’s $600M order to Army: Clear explosives, clean toxic water at Pueblo chemical weapons depot
Buried munitions and ground water pollution are top cleanup concerns

By BRUCE FINLEY
Denver Post (CO)
November 27, 2023 at 8:00 a.m.

AVONDALE — The nation’s outlawed chemical weapons stashed in 780,000 steel shells here at the Army’s Pueblo Chemical Depot — 2,613 tons of molasses-like goop designed to inflict blisters, blindness, and burns from World War II through the Cold War — have been destroyed, international arms treaty overseers certified.

But this military base on 36 square miles of what once was short-grass prairie along the Arkansas River still is bleeding TNT (trinitrotoluene), which causes liver and nerve problems, and TCE (trichloroethylene), which causes kidney cancer, in underground plumes of contaminated water. Thousands of old bombs, grenades, and other munitions are scattered under the wind-whipped topsoil and weeds.

Colorado officials estimate cleaning the site to meet an industrial-use standard will cost more than $600 million, a cost the U.S. Department of Defense, which owns the site, is legally obligated to cover — though Colorado wants the land back. But if Congress fails to maintain a long-term focus and provide funds each year, state health officials and redevelopment authorities warn, the once-healthy prairie will remain a wasteland — more of a burden than a benefit.

“We cannot re-use the property if it is not clean,” said Russell DeSalvo, executive director of PuebloPlex, a state entity created by lawmakers in 1994 to redevelop the site.

…

For the entire article, see
https://www.greeleytribune.com/2023/11/27/army-chemical-weapons-cleanup-pueblo-depot/

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Lenny Siegel
Executive Director
Center for Public Environmental Oversight
A project of the Pacific Studies Center
LSiegel@cpeo.org
P.O. Box 998, Mountain View, CA 94042
Voice/Fax: 650-961-8918
http://www.cpeo.org





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