Oregon senators protest proposed cuts for depot

This story was published Thu, Jul 29, 1999

By Theresa Goffredo
Herald Oregon bureau

HERMISTON - Oregon's two U.S. senators have joined forces to protest a proposed $388 million federal budget cut they say would "imperil" the communities nearest to chemical weapons disposal sites.

Republican Gordon Smith and Democrat Ron Wyden have urged the Senate Armed Services Committee to provide all of the $1.7 billion requested by the Department of Defense for its Chemical Demilitarization Program.

Part of that money would pay for destroying the aging lethal nerve agents stored at the Umatilla Chemical Depot near Hermiston.

A plan to cut $388 million from the request could delay by a year the scheduled 2005 date to destroy the 3,717 tons of weapons stored at the Umatilla depot, according to the Army.

Also, the budget cut might mean the United States won't be able to keep its end of the Chemical Weapons Convention, an international agreement that calls for complete destruction of the nation's chemical stockpile by April 2007.

Smith and Wyden, along with nine other senators from states where chemical weapons are stored, urged Sen. John Warner, chairman of the Armed Services Committee, to "ensure that adequate funding is provided to safely and effectively implement the Chemical Demilitarization Program."

"We feel these proposed cuts could ultimately escalate negative and dangerous impacts on local communities surrounding chemical weapons stockpile sites, imperiling local communities' emergency response capabilities," the senators wrote in their July 21 letter.

The Army estimates the worst possible accident could kill more than 10,000 people within a 62-mile radius of the Umatilla depot.

Mary Binder, the Army's spokeswoman at Umatilla, said Wednesday that it's important elected officials are kept up to date on any proposed budget cuts that could delay disposal of chemical weapons.

Earlier this month, members of the House Appropriations Committee's subcommittee on defense proposed the $388 million cut, partly because of an internal memo claiming a "pot of gold" was hidden inside the Army's chemical demilitarization budget.

Also, a Senate report suggested the program had more than $200 million in unspent money at the end of fiscal year 1998.

But intensive investigations by several agencies, including the government's General Accounting Office, have since debunked any pot-of-gold allegations, top Army officials have said.

Partners in the Umatilla incinerator project already have made contingency plans for budget cuts and what those cuts might do to the schedule for destroying the chemicals.

A $5 million budget cut would delay burning of the chemicals by about six months. A $10 million budget cut would mean a nine-month delay.

Budget cuts would not affect the project's construction schedule, however.

The $604 million incinerator - more than 50 percent built - is due to be completed by February 2001.

 

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