A win-win on chem weapon

The Department of Defense has, at last, come to its senses. Instead of transporting chemical weapons to existing incinerators run by Army contractors, the agency will destroy the weapons on-site at chemical depots in Colorado and Kentucky.

The issue was critical for Utah because a likely destination for the 2,600 tons of mustard agent stockpile at the Pueblo (Colo.) Chemical Depot would have been the chemical weapon incinerator in Tooele County. Under pressure from congressional delegations from Utah, Colorado and Kentucky, the Pentagon told Congress it will move ahead with plans to build water neutralization facilities in Colorado and Kentucky. Meanwhile, the Deseret Chemical Weapons Depot will continue to destroy the nation's largest stockpile of nerve and blister agent in the country. The incineration, which began in 1996, is more than half-way complete.

Tooele, obviously, has done its fair share in housing and now eliminating the nation's stockpile of chemical weapons. Unlike other waste and toxic materials issues, both Colorado and Kentucky want to destroy the chemical weapons on-site. No doubt they want the jobs that would be created during the construction and operation of the incinerators. But leaders from each of the affected states also recognized the risks of transporting these agents. The wisest course, all the way around, is to destroy them on-site and work toward the 2012 deadline to get rid of the weapons, as established in an international treaty.

It is questionable whether the 2012 deadline is workable, given the delays in building the destruction facilities in Colorado and Kentucky. There is no question that the delays and the water neutralization technology to be used at the Pueblo and Blue Grass depots will be far more expensive than the $1 billion incinerator at Deseret Chemical Weapons Depot.

Given those time and budget constraints, it is somewhat understandable why transporting the weapons elsewhere was even contemplated. But the United States' security concerns are far different than they were when the Tooele incinerator went on line in 1996. The military cannot entertain the possibility that these weapons could fall into the wrong hands or release deadly chemicals in the event of an accident on a mountain pass or any other potentially dangerous road.

The Department of Defense has hit upon the most logical choice for all concerned, thanks, in part, to the diligent work of Utah's congressional delegation.