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News :: Environment |
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Army Pushes Back Startup Of Newport Nerve Gas Destruction; Looks Likely To Miss CWC Treaty Deadline |
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by ML
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03 Nov 2003
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Citing a lack of "sustained leadership" and "obscured accountability," a new GAO report details delays in the Chemical-Demilitarization Program that is to destroy 1,700 tons of deadly VX nerve gas at the Newport Army Ammunition Depot and thousands of tons of similarly lethal chemical munitions at eight other sites. |
Citing a lack of "sustained leadership" and "obscured accountability," a new GAO report details delays in the Chemical-Demilitarization Program that is to destroy 1,700 tons of deadly VX nerve gas at the Newport Army Ammunition Depot and thousands of tons of similarly lethal chemical munitions at eight other sites. Delays in reaching important milestones at all sites continue to occur. What is new is that these delays now include operational problems that present the danger of accidents during the destruction process that could kill workers and potentially threaten those living near these installations.
The continuing delays will cause the Army to also miss treaty deadlines that the U.S. is obligated to meet under the provisions of the Chemical Weapons Convention. It now looks like even the five-year extension that is available to the original 2007 date for complete destruction of the U.S. chemical weapons stockpile will be insufficient. Operations deadlines recently set for the last installations to go online, Pueblo, Colorado and Blue Grass, Kentucky, indicate that chemical destruction at these sites won't even begin until after the 2012 deadline extension.
Delays at the nearby Newport AAD site in Indiana near Danville, Illinois now call for the beginning of VX destruction in February 2004. Even this date is still uncertain, since this site recently had its chemical waste product contractor fired because of its failure to secure permits to dispose of by-products of the demilitarization process as originally planned in Dayton, Ohio.
The complete text of the new GAO report is available (in ODF format) here:
http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d04221t.pdf
The U.S. CWC website:
http://www.cwc.gov/
The Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons website:
http://www.opcw.org/
Earlier reporting on this story here at UC IMC is available at these links:
Snag Hits Newport Nerve Gas Plan: Handful Of Ohians Defeat The Army
http://www.ucimc.org/newswire/display_any/13704
Just Across The Stateline: Where The WMDs Are
http://www.ucimc.org/newswire/display_any/12715
U.S. Will Buy Gas Masks for Residents Near Ala. Nerve Gas Incinerator
http://www.ucimc.org/newswire/display_any/4782
CDC Proposes Reduced Exposure Limits For VX Nerve Gas
http://www.ucimc.org/newswire/display_any/3676 |
