Chemical stockpile scrapping work proceeds amid dissent.

• Author: Erwin, Sandra I.
• Position: Army demilitarization project

The United States will likely fail to meet a 2007 deadline to destroy its entire stockpile of chemical weapons. Nevertheless, Army officials remain optimistic about the future of the demilitarization program--which in recent years has been plagued by delays, cost overruns and opposition by environmental and public-safety advocacy groups.

Up until a few years ago, the focus of the U.S. chemical demilitarization program was to ensure the entire stockpile of more than 31,000 tons of bulk agents and munitions be destroyed by April 29,2007--exactly a decade from the day the United States ratified the Chemical Weapons Convention.

But mounting criticism from local governments, lawmakers and advocacy organizations about the safety of the Arm/s incinerators prompted program officials to reevaluate priorities. They decided that, even though they wanted to obliterate the stockpile as quickly as possible, they also needed to satisfy public-safety and environmental concerns about the methods of destruction.

"We are still working to meet the 2007 goal," said James Bacon, the Army's program manager for chemical demilitarization. "We are looking at methods to accelerate destruction, where appropriate," he said in an interview. However, he added, "Our highest priority is the safety of the public, the workers [performing the destruction] and the environment.

So far, the United States has destroyed about 8,000 tons of chemical weapons. According to Bacon, "That surpasses our immediate treaty goal of 20 percent [of the stockpile] by April 2002."

Of the nine chemical-weapon sites where the Army was to set up demilitarization operations, there are still two where the work has not even started yet, because federal, stare and local officials have not agreed on what destruction method they should use.

The reason these two depots--located in Pueblo, Cob, and in Blue Grass, Ky.--have lagged behind is that Congress passed legislation in 1997 that directed the Army to evaluate alternative technologies to incineration.

There are incinerators currently operating in Tooele, Utah, and Anniston, Ala. The Army is building one in Umatilla, Oregon, and recently began dismantling an incineration facility in Johnston Island (located in the Central Pacific), which was used to destroy about 2,000 tons of chemical weapons.

It appears inevitable that Pueblo and Blue Grass will fail to meet the 2007 goal. "Our schedule extends beyond that, in some of our sites," said Bacon: Depending on how long it takes to build destruction facilities at the two depots, it could well be 2010 or 2012 before those stockpiles are destroyed.

To obtain an extension beyond 2007, the United States must file a request by April 29, 2006. Officials from the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons would then determine whether to extend the deadline by five years. A decision to seek an extension would come from national authorities, not from the Army, Bacon noted. "It's a national security policy issue."

Bacon, who is...