Depot faces longer deadline

This story was published Wed, Oct 3, 2001

By Mary Hopkin
Herald Oregon bureau

Pentagon officials said Tuesday that it was unlikely the United States will make the 2007 treaty deadline for destroying the weapons, and $9 billion more than originally expected will be required to do it.

In a meeting with three Alabama lawmakers, E.C. "Pete" Aldridge Jr., undersecretary of defense for acquisition, technology and logistics, said he altered the completion schedule for at least four of eight incineration sites to answer safety concerns from surrounding residents.

Aldridge also said the cost of incineration is now estimated at $24 billion, up from the $15 billion originally projected.

"We've adjusted both the schedule and program cost to what I think is the highest confidence I can provide," Aldridge said.

Under the new schedule, incineration of the weapons at the Umatilla Chemical Depot, originally scheduled to be completed in mid-2005, is now expected to continue until at least December 2008 in a best-case scenario. Any delays could push that timeline to mid-2013.

Originally, test burns were scheduled to begin this month, with incineration to start in July 2002. In January, Wayne Thomas, an Oregon Department of Environmental Quality official in charge of chemical demilitarization, said testing would be delayed at least six weeks. The Army followed with an announcement in August that incineration would not start until February 2003.

Karyn Jones, a member of the Chemical Weapons Working Group, a grass-roots organization based in Berea, Ky., that opposes chemical incineration, said the delays are no surprise.

"I think I followed progress at (Johnston Island) closely over the past 11 years, and I know they were continually behind schedule," said Jones, who lives in Hermiston.

Last spring, an internal Army memo revealed doubts on whether the deadline could be met and concluded it could require up to 11 extra years to destroy all the weapons. At the time, Pentagon officials dismissed that as a worst-case scenario.

That deception is what most bothers Craig Williams, also a member of the Chemical Weapons Working Group.

"The communities deserve accurate and honest information so they understand what is going on," Williams said. "This program has a long history of misrepresentation, not only to its cities, but also to Congress."

Don Barclay, site project manager at the Umatilla incineration plant, said he is not concentrating on the completion date right now.

"We must focus on our operational start date, because we can't reduce the risk until we start," Barclay said.

Incineration at all the sites will take longer than anticipated and the sites in Umatilla, Pine Bluff, Ark., and Newport, Ind., will miss the treaty deadline. A completion date hasn't been determined for Blue Grass, Ky., and Pueblo, Colo. Only Aberdeen, Md., and Tooele, Utah, which has already begun burning, remain on track to beat the treaty deadline.

The Army has stockpiled nearly 30,000 tons of the deadly chemicals, which have been scheduled to be destroyed by 2007 as part of an international chemical weapons treaty. Internal Army documents have raised doubts on whether that deadline could be met. But this is the first time Pentagon officials have acknowledged a delay.

 

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