Statement Of Senator McConnell On Chemical Demilitarization At Blue Grass Army Depot

Statement Of Senator McConnell On Chemical Demilitarization At Blue Grass Army Depot

from the Office of Senator Mitch McConnell

U.S. Senator Mitch McConnell today called on the Department of Defense to fulfill its obligations to the people of Madison County, Kentucky and safely eliminate the chemical weapons stored at the Blue Grass Army Depot. The facility contains 523 tons of our nation's chemical weapons stockpile. Since the 1940s, it has stored mustard gas, sarin nerve agent and VX nerve agent, one of the deadliest nerve agents ever created.

During a Senate floor speech, McConnell said, "the time has come, for the safety of my fellow Kentuckians, to safely eliminate these heinous weapons."

A full transcript of his remarks follows:

"Mr. President, imagine how nervous you would be if I told you that as we go about our business here in the Senate, hidden in the Capitol basement were over 500 tons of some of the deadliest material ever conceived by man, VX nerve agent.

"Suppose I told you it had been there for decades. And although the authorities had previously promised to safely destroy such toxins, they were now changing their tune. They had put their plans to dispose of these deadly weapons on hold, leaving you to babysit them. I imagine you'd start to feel a little nervous.

"Well, now you know how the residents of Madison County, Kentucky feel.

"For the people of Madison County, and all over central Kentucky, the fear I have just described is a daily reality, Mr. President. The Blue Grass Army Depot in Madison County contains 523 tons of our nation's chemical weapons stockpile. Since the 1940s, it has stored mustard gas, sarin nerve agent and VX nerve agent, one of the deadliest nerve agents ever created.

"As little as 10 milligrams of VX is enough to kill a human being. That's about the mass of 10 grains of sand. Virtually undetectable to the naked eye, and yet, if that tiny amount is inhaled, death is immediate. If it is absorbed through the skin, death takes mere minutes.

"The time has come, for the safety of my fellow Kentuckians, to safely eliminate these heinous weapons.

"The Department of Defense has agreed that it is time for these weapons to go. They have promised that they would dispose of them. Congress has appropriated hundreds of millions of dollars for them to safely destroy the materials. Yet the Department refuses to take the necessary steps to accomplish this task.

"The Department has offered all sorts of reasons for why, many of which even contradict each other, but the bottom line is that they refuse to spend the money the President requested and the Congress appropriated to dispose of these chemical weapons stored in Kentucky.

"This Congress cannot and will not let them get away with it.

"The Department's foot dragging on eliminating these weapons is simply unacceptable. The best they claim they can do is to place the Blue Grass Army Depot on "caretaker" status—meaning that virtually no clean-up action will be taken. The Department's own studies have shown that the longer we sit on these dangerous weapons, the greater the risk to the surrounding communities. The Department of Defense needs to fulfill its obligations and clean up these sites now.

"In 1996, I authored legislative language that created the Assembled Chemical Weapons Alternatives program, also known as ACWA, to find the best method to destroy VX and other deadly agents. The Blue Grass Army Depot became one of the ACWA sites, along with a site in Pueblo, Colorado. The Department of Defense refuses to clean up this site also, and so my friend Senator Allard knows this issue well. I thank him for his leadership. He feels as strongly as I do that the dangerous substances located at the hearts of our states need to be disposed of safely and quickly.

"The Department claims that the ACWA sites must be downgraded to "caretaker" status because they are over budget due to cost overruns. Yet the Department's own schizophrenic decision making is what led to these costs. The Department has repeatedly stopped or slowed down design work and then restarted again, adding unnecessary start-up and stop work costs. They stingily parcel out appropriated monies in such small quantities that it is impossible to spend it efficiently. Thus it is the Department's own bureaucratic mismanagement that has created the cost problems.

"Perhaps we should expect no less from an outfit whose operating maxim is printed on this board behind me. Dr. Dale Klein, the Assistant to the Secretary of Defense for Nuclear, Chemical and Biological Defense Programs, admitted this in testimony last week before the House Armed Services Committee: "As I often tell people, some of our budgeting processes are accurate but incorrect."

"Can you believe that, Mr. President? Dr. Klein, speaking of the Department of Defense, said on the record, "some of our budgeting processes are accurate but incorrect."

"I will leave it to someone else to figure out exactly what that means, but it does not fill me with confidence in the Department's ability to resolve this issue. The Congress must pursue this matter if we ever want to see positive results.

"Therefore, I have authored a provision, Section 1115, in this Supplemental Appropriations bill that expressly directs the Department of Defense to spend the money Congress has appropriated to dispose of chemical weapons at the Blue Grass Army Depot and Pueblo Chemical Depot. And it forbids them from shunting that money into any other purpose.

"Let me be clear. This provision does not add a penny of new spending to this bill. It merely requires the Department to spend the money they requested for the purposes they identified.

"The Department of Defense has broken its word to the citizens of Madison County. But the language I have authored will force the Department to get Blue Grass back on track. And I promise that prediction will prove both accurate and correct.

"My provision will guarantee that the $813.4 million in prior-year monies that have been budgeted for ACWA sites will not be transferred for other purposes. Over the past several years, the President has requested specific funds for ACWA. For reasons of comity, Congress has provided those funds for the overall chemical demilitarization program largely in lump sums, trusting that DOD would comply with the President's budget request. But they have not.

"Instead, DOD undermined the President's budget request and diverted funds intended for ACWA. This language will hold the Department to the President's budget requests with respect to ACWA.

"My provision will force the Department of Defense to obligate at least $100 million at the ACWA sites within 120 days of enactment. Because the Department has purposely withheld funds from the ACWA sites and downgraded them to "caretaker" status, work has come to a virtual halt at Blue Grass and has stopped completely at Pueblo.

"The Department itself has repeatedly determined that the storing of these deadly weapons poses an increasing danger over time. Yet they now complain that they will have to jump through multiple bureaucratic hoops before those sites can be up and running again. By obligating $100 million immediately, we can get much-needed funds moving through the pipeline again and help jump-start the clean-up efforts at both sites.

"My provision will also require the Department to provide Congress with a bimonthly accounting of the money spent at these sites. This improved oversight will hopefully shed some light on the opaque processes at the Department of Defense. Perhaps with enough work, we can even find out how to make a budget both accurate and correct.

"Because safety is paramount, my provision will do one more thing. It will prohibit the Department of Defense from conducting a study on the transportation of chemical weapons across state lines. Because transporting chemical weapons across state lines is illegal, one would think this provision unnecessary. But despite the law, the Department has ordered a study on how to do just that.

"Mr. President, it is a mystery to me why the Department would spend precious time and money exploring an option that is not an option—that is illegal under federal law. Let me say that again: The Department of Defense is currently spending funds that should be going towards destroying deadly chemical agents on studying a course of action that is illegal.

"That suggests to me that rather than destroying the chemical weapons where they are stored, the Department is considering transferring them out of the Blue Grass Army Depot to other facilities. That is reckless and irresponsible for too many reasons to describe. Kentuckians don't want trucks full of nerve gas speeding down the interstate, Mr. President. And I suspect neither do the people of other states, like Alabama, Arkansas or Utah.

"Before I finish, I want to address one more failure of the Department of Defense. By not meeting their obligations to the people of Kentucky and Colorado, they are breaking not only their word. They are breaking America's word. That is because by placing the ACWA sites on caretaker status, the Department is acknowledging that the weapons will not be disposed of until 2016 at the earliest.

"Yet the United States has signed the Chemical Weapons Convention, which establishes a deadline for elimination of these substances in 2012 at the latest. The Department of Defense should be working with all the speed it can muster to meet this deadline, not openly thumbing its nose at it. Passing this bill will move us closer to compliance with the Chemical Weapons Convention.

"In this age of terrorism, our decision-making processes for handling and disposing of such horrifying weapons must be focused and clear. The Department of Defense's approach to the ACWA sites has been neither.

"I urge my fellow senators to support this bill. With the passage of Section 1115, you will get accountability and transparency from the Department of Defense. You will ensure that a promise made to the people of Kentucky is a promise fulfilled. Most importantly, you will protect the safety of hundreds of thousands of Americans.

"On the other hand, if we do nothing, it will all be left up to the Department of Defense. The best they can be is accurate but incorrect."

http://mcconnell.senate.gov/record.cfm?id=236317&start=1