Thousands of mustard weapons at Pueblo Chemical Depot may be destroyed by 2017 after Sen. Wayne Allard added an amendment to a defense bill Wednesday.
The amendment by Allard and Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., to the Senate Defense Appropriations bill mandates cleanup at Pueblo and Blue Grass Army Depot near Richmond, Ky., by Dec. 31, 2017. A three-year closure period would follow.
“If this amendment becomes law, from this point forward the cleanup effort would receive substantial budget increases to comply with this important mandate,” Allard said. “The establishment of a hard deadline for the Department of Defense to destroy these weapons will ensure that cleanup will be a top priority.”
The Pentagon said in January that it would destroy the 780,078 munitions at Pueblo by 2020 at a cost of $3.6 billion.
Twice before, the Pentagon has revised deadlines to complete destruction of the weapons by 2007 and 2014. The United States will be in violation of an international treaty if the weapons aren’t destroyed by 2012. The weapons have been stored at the depot since the 1950s.
Colorado Democratic Sen. Ken Salazar also supports the amendment, which is expected to be voted on in the next week or so.
“The people of Pueblo deserve and are owed nothing less than a cleaned-up Pueblo Chemical Depot,” Salazar said.
Ross Vincent, a Sierra Club leader in Pueblo, said the amendment is “significant in that it sends a clear signal to the Pentagon that the Senate wants it done faster than they are planning to do it. That’s a good signal to send.”
Vincent said the Pentagon should issue a revised timetable once it becomes law, and “if they don’t, we ought to be pitching a fit.”
Applications to construct the plant that will destroy the weapons have been filed. Workers have been building access roads and infrastructure.
Pueblo will neutralize the mustard agent with water, then destroy it using biodegradation.
Staff writer Erin Emery can be reached at 719-522-1360 or emery@denverpost.com.
