Report Lists Moving More Chemical Weapons To Umatilla As Option

UMATILLA  WEAPONS  GOVERNMENT 

By Anna King

Richland, WA  July 2, 2008 5:02 p.m.

The United States is falling behind on an international treaty deadline to destroy all of its chemical weapons by 2012. And the state of Oregon might be asked to pick up the slack, as correspondent Anna King reports.

The Umatilla Chemical Depot in north-central Oregon stores weapons produced in WWII and the Cold War.

It's on track to destroy all of them by 2012. But some states are just starting to build their chemical weapons incinerators.

So a recent Department of Defense report suggests trucking the munitions to different places that could handle the chemicals faster like Umatilla.

Bruce Henrickson is spokesman for the Umatilla Chemical Depot. He says there's only one problem with that plan.

Bruce Henrickson: "Currently there is a federal law that prohibits the transport of munitions across state lines."

That means Congress would have to change the law first. The federal government's two other options suggest either continuing business as usual or giving more money to the states that are falling behind schedule.

Share this article: del.icio.us digg newsvine

© 2008 Northwest Public Radio