State sets own deadline for mustard destruction
Its date for completion is six years earlier than the current limit.

By JOHN NORTON
THE PUEBLO CHIEFTAIN

Colorado officials told the Department of Defense this week to get rid of its mustard agent stockpile in Pueblo County by 2017, the same deadline set in recent legislation authored by some members of the state’s congressional delegation.

The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment issued a compliance order on Wednesday requiring the Defense Department to destroy its entire stockpile at the Pueblo Chemical Depot by 2017, six years earlier than the current target date of 2023.

Kathy DeWeese, spokesperson for the Defense Department's Assembled Chemical Weapons Alternatives program, which oversees the weapons disposal work here and at the Blue Grass Army Depot in Kentucky, said that the ACWA office had not received the compliance order Thursday. She said that ACWA and the Pueblo Chemical Depot "share with all Colorado citizens the desire to see the Pueblo stockpile destroyed as safely and expeditiously as possible."

The chemical depot houses 780,000 artillery shells and mortar rounds containing 2,611 tons of mustard agent. Work is currently under way on a plant to break down the mustard agent into less dangerous elements and the Defense Department is still contemplating whether the waste will be treated further on site or shipped out.

She added that by June 30, the Defense Department will have a report to Congress on the cost of accelerating the current program in order to finish by the treaty-mandated deadline of 2012 or the 2017 date requested by Congress "Once Congress has reviewed that report, further direction from Congress on a path forward is anticipated. The compliance order will be studied in the context of that congressional direction and we will work with Colorado authorities accordingly." The state's order requires the Defense Department to file a chemical waste treatment plan within 60 days, describing how the mustard agent and its waste will be destroyed by the end of 2017.

Mustard agent waste storage is prohibited under state regulations.

If the Defense Department fails to meet the deadline, the state does have the power under the federal Resource Conservation and Recovery Act to assess penalties against the Pentagon.

Doug Knappe, of the Colorado health department, said that may not be necessary. "If they have problems getting to that schedule, but they've made a good effort, we may not do anything if they're close. If they basically blow us off there can be penalties for noncompliance."