The Anniston Army Depot in Alabama was scheduled yesterday to begin its final chemical weapons disposal campaign, the Anniston Star reported (see GSN, Jan. 5).
Since operations began in August 2003, the Anniston Chemical Agent Disposal Facility has incinerated nearly 362,000 munitions and more than 293,000 gallons of VX and sarin nerve agents. The last project involves elimination of weapons and bulk containers filled with mustard blister agent.
"We have hundreds of thousands of those to do," said depot spokesman Mike Abrams.
Demilitarization operations at Anniston are scheduled to be finished by April 2012, the deadline set under the international Chemical Weapons Convention for full elimination of the U.S. chemical arsenal.
"We still have a ways to go to eliminate the entire Anniston stockpile, Abrams said. "But things are progressing well" (Michael Bell, Anniston Star, July 1).
Meanwhile, the federal government yesterday argued in court against the legal right of the state of Colorado to demand that the Pueblo Chemical Depot's stockpile of weapons be destroyed by 2017, the Pueblo Chieftain reported (see GSN, June 2).
The Colorado Public Health and Environment Department last year ordered the Army to speed up preparations for mustard-agent neutralization at the depot, where the disposal facility is not yet completed. The Defense Department rejected the order, only to be slapped with a lawsuit by the state.
"We want to ensure no further delay" in disposal, Colorado Assistant Attorney General David Kreutzer told Senior U.S. District Judge Richard Matsch. "We'd like to put an end to the slippage in the schedule."
The Pentagon and the depot reject the state's authority for a number of reasons, including that Congress has already set a schedule and plan for work at the site, the Chieftain reported.
"You're saying the Army can't obey two masters," Matsch asked Justice Department lawyer Alan Greenberg, who argued on behalf of the Pentagon and depot, the defendants in the lawsuit.
"Yes, your honor," Greenberg said.
The congressional deadline is also 2017. Reports have indicated that a funding boost of more than $1 billion over several years for Pueblo and the Blue Grass Army Depot in Kentucky would enable the Colorado site to complete disposal operations that year.
Matsch offered no hint on when he would issue his decision. However, he appeared skeptical that federal court was the correct jurisdiction for the case, noting that state courts generally deal with health department compliance orders (Robert Boczkiewicz, Pueblo Chieftain, July 2).