138th Year... and still on the job!	Thursday July 12, 2007

It's about time


EDITORIAL
THE PUEBLO CHIEFTAN

DELAY, DELAY, delay. The job of destroying chemical weapons at Pueblo Chemical Depot has been fraught with delay after delay for years. The same can be said for a sister depot in Kentucky.

The four U.S. senators from the two states are frustrated by these delays and want the jobs done by 2017, and they are willing to provide the funding needed to get the job done. Sens. Wayne Allard and Ken Salazar along with Sens. Mitch McConnell and Jim Bunning of Kentucky have filed an amendment to the fiscal 2008 defense authorization bill setting a deadline for the two projects, providing additional money, and - importantly - requiring twice-yearly progress updates from the Defense Department.

We say importantly because the department’s feet must be kept to the fire. There has been far too much dawdling on the part of the Army over these two projects.

Sen. McConnell, the Senate minority leader, said in a floor speech Wednesday that "forces buried deep within the DOD bureaucracy have dragged their feet." The amendment, he said, "will send a message that this Congress has enough of their pigheaded stubbornness on this issue."

The current funding stream, $150 million annually for each project, would cost the taxpayers $3.3 billion more than if the work were accelerated and finished by 2017, rather than the 2021 and 2023 finishing times currently estimated by the Army, Sen. McConnell told his colleagues.

Sen. Allard added that the Defense Department has pitted one facility against another, delaying the programs here and in Kentucky so others could advance.

Said Sen. Allard:

"The Department of Defense consistently has failed to provide sufficient funding for this program, and thus delayed the destruction of chemical weapons on site. Only by mandating a legally binding date will the DOD make chemical demilitarization at Pueblo a top priority and finally fulfill their promise to the Pueblo community.”

To which we’d add, "Amen."