Matheson called Wynne's response unsatisfactory. According to his office, he is teaming with Rep. John Salazar, D-Colo., to say the letter seems to indicate the Army does intend to move the arms to Utah.

Moving the 2,600 tons of mustard weapons across state lines would violate the law, Matheson said. The weapons have been known to leak, and transporting them from Colorado to Utah poses a safety risk to communities along the route as well as to the workers who would handle them at either end, says a Matheson press release sent Tuesday.

"The reply from DoD basically says that it is aware of the law, but plans to study the alternative of transporting the weapons stockpiles anyway," he is quoted in the release. "Such an arbitrary and dismissive stance seems incredible to me."

Meanwhile, a Pueblo newspaper reported on Tuesday that the Army had released funds for work such as grading, fencing, roadwork and utilities. Funding has been hung up since January, while the Army has been studying alternatives, added the paper, The Pueblo Chieftain.

The paper quoted Gary Anderson, local manager for the chemical weapons destruction program, as saying on Monday that the Defense Department and officials of contractor Bechtel would soon begin working on a less-expensive design for the destruction plant.

According to the Chieftain article, written by reporter John Norton and used with permission here, Pentagon officials have said they want cost of the Pueblo destruction plant reduced from an estimated $2.6 billion to $1.7 billion.

Anderson said he thought the chances of meeting the 2012 deadline were slim to none, according to the Chieftain.

The depot's outreach office said officials were not present to respond to the article on Tuesday

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E-mail: bau@desnews.com