Utah won't get more chemical weapons

In a reverse move, after months of controversy, the Pentagon has abandoned plans to ship chemical weapons to Utah.

The weapons will be destroyed on-site at depots in Colorado and Kentucky rather than being hauled to incinerators in Utah and elsewhere around the country.

"This is really good news for Utah and for all of our citizens who won't see leaking weapons transported through their communities," Rep. Jim Matheson, D-Utah, said Tuesday night through spokeswoman Alyson Heyrend. "I am pleased that Utah's senators, our governor and my office were able to work together to accomplish this."

In a letter released Tuesday, Defense Department undersecretary Michael Wynne told Congress the agency will move ahead with the design and construction of facilities that will destroy the dangerous weapons on-site at the Pueblo Chemical Depot in Colorado and the Blue Grass Depot in Kentucky.

Until now, the money had been held up while the Defense Department studied the possibility of shipping chemical weapons from places like Colorado to Utah.

The Kentucky-based Chemical Weapons Working Group, a coalition of organizations across the country working for the safe disposal of chemical weapons, first uncovered plans to study the possibility of transporting weapons from various sites to places like Utah in January.

But, according to Jason Groenewold, director of the Healthy Environment Alliance of Utah, fierce public and political opposition to the plan resulted in the about-face by defense officials.

The decision will free up around $300 million that will be used to construct chemical neutralization plants in the two states during 2005.

Utah Congressional representatives — including Matheson, Sen. Robert Bennett, R-Utah, and Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah — and Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. had opposed the plan to ship more than 780,000 chemical weapons filled with more than five million pounds of mustard agent to Utah from Colorado.

Groenewold said Utah started with the largest cache of chemical weapons with more than 42 percent of the national stockpile.

"Bottom line, we have done more than our fair share of being on the receiving end of toxic waste," Groenewold said. "Suggesting that we should open our doors to more is insulting, and we are extremely appreciative that the Utah delegation worked to make sure we were not on the receiving end of this."

Tammy Kikuchi, spokesperson for the governor, said Huntsman's office had yet to hear the news.

"If it is indeed the case, the governor will be thrilled. . . . It is in line with what he has lobbied for while he had been in Washington, D.C.," said Kikuchi.

"The Pentagon's decision is good news for Utah and it underscores our effort to block additional chemical weapons from coming to the state," said Mary Jane Collipriest, spokeswoman for Bennett.

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Contributing: Jerry D. Spangler, The Associated Press

E-mail: terickson@desnews.com