From CWWG page:
HOUSE MEMBERS URGE SECRETARY COHEN TO FULLY FUND
ALTERNATIVE TECHNOLOGIES FOR CHEMICAL WEAPONS DISPOSAL
In a display of end-of-the-session bipartisanship, the one Independent, ten Democratic and twelve Republican members of the U.S. House of Representatives have sent a letter to Defense Secretary William Cohen, requesting that he "dedicate the necessary funds to complete demonstrations of six non-incineration technologies, within the Assembled Chemical Weapons Assessment (ACWA) Program," which may be used to dispose of our nation's chemical weapons stockpile.
In 1996, under the leadership of Senator Mitch McConnell (R-KY), Congress created the ACWA program and gave it a $40 million budget, to identify and demonstrate at least two non-incineration technologies for disposal of the U.S. stockpile of chemical weapons. To the delight of anti-incineration groups, six technologies made it to the demonstration phase of the ACWA program. However, the Army now claims funding is only available to demonstrate three technologies.
Congress responded promptly to the ACWA budget crisis. With bipartisan support, Senator McConnell amended the FY 1999 Defense Appropriations Bill, to give Secretary Cohen the discretion to spend not more than $25 million to complete the ACWA demonstrations. In August, six Senators sent a letter to Cohen urging him to expend these funds for ACWA, and later wrote to President Clinton urging him to have Cohen release the funds. Thus far the Pentagon has been unwilling to take the $25 million needed from its projected $16 billion chemical weapons disposal budget, or anywhere else, to complete ACWA's mission.
Now, twenty-four U.S. Representatives have signed on to a letter to Secretary Cohen, initiated by Illinois Congressman Jesse Jackson, Jr., urging complete ACWA funding, stating that "the ACWA program implements technologies to destroy the nation's chemical weapons stockpile in a manner more protective of the public health and safety than the current baseline incineration program. These technologies are more protective of human health and the environment and more acceptable to communities across this nation."
Craig Williams, Director of the Chemical Weapons Working Group, a national grassroots coalition promoting safe chemical weapons disposal, said, "The bipartisanship of the U.S. House signatories concerning this issue is a tremendous asset for the people of America. It reflects a commitment by elected officials from all across America to ensure that only the safest and most environmentally protective disposal technologies should be used."
The letter to Secretary Cohen also reflects the potential of ACWA technologies for projects beyond chemical weapons disposal noting that "the ACWA program will accelerate our nation's ability to deploy cutting- edge technologies to destroy Superfund waste, hazardous waste, and such things as napalm, obsolete pesticides and a host of military wastes. Furthermore, since clean disposal technologies are in high demand around the world, ACWA acts as an investment in America's economic and environmental future by supporting innovative, alternative remediation technologies."
The CWWG's Williams agreed. "The complete execution of this program is recognized by these House Members as having implications well beyond the primary objective of safe chemical weapons disposal. These Representatives are playing an important role not only in protecting U.S. citizens but in leading the way towards marketable clean-up technologies world-wide. This is good for the people, good for the environment and good for America's long term economic growth."
"Unfortunately, certain interests don't want incineration to be shown inferior to alternative technologies," Williams continued. "For the Army to claim they can't afford $25 million out of their $16 billion chemical disposal budget is ludicrous. For the Pentagon to claim they can't afford it out of the $275 billion 1999 Defense budget is even more unbelievable."
|
