Senators representing states that are home to bunkers of decaying World War II-era chemical weapons and states with disposal facilities that could receive the munitions introduced a bill Wednesday to strip funding from a $150,000 Defense Department study on relocation.
Second District Rep. Jim Matheson, D-Utah, applauded the Senate measure and said he probably would support a House version, should one be introduced. He met with his legislative staff Wednesday to begin drafting a letter to the Army expressing his opposition to the potential that thousands of mustard gas shells at the Pueblo Chemical Depot in southeastern Colorado could be to moved to the incinerator at the Tooele Chemical Agent Disposal Facility in Utah for destruction.
"I'm tired of Utah being a dumping ground and I can't believe the military is trying to study this again," said Matheson. "We don't want it."
Sen. Bob Bennett, R-Utah, sponsored a provision in a 1996 defense appropriations bill that prohibited funding a similar relocation study and he planned to review the measure that Sen. Wayne Allard, R-Colo., dropped at the Senate clerk's desk Wednesday afternoon.
"Senator Bennett has a history of opposing any transportation of additional chemical weapons to Utah, but he hasn't seen the specifics of the Allard bill and will wait to review it before deciding whether to sign on as a co-sponsor," said his press secretary, MaryJane Collipriest.
Other Utah members of Congress want more details on the Defense Department's plans.
"The delegation hasn't discussed it yet, but I did have some conversations with DOD and it is very clear they are only in an exploration phase," said Republican Rep. Rob Bishop, whose 1st Congressional District includes the incinerator near Tooele. "If anything like this were to happen, you are talking three, four or five years down the line before our stockpile would be destroyed and anything would come to Utah for disposal."
Republican Sen. Orrin Hatch said it may be problematic to move the aging weapons from Colorado to Utah, but added: "I'm going to listen to all sides and I hope I make the right decision."
Meghan Riding, spokesperson for 3rd District Republican Rep. Chris Cannon, said he was "taking a wait and see attitude" until more information is available.
Co-sponsors of Allard's measure include Sens. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky.; Jim Bunning, R-Ky.; Richard Shelby, R-Ala., and Ken Salazar, D-Colo.
Allard said Wednesday he was angry that a day after Pentagon officials told him and Salazar they had no plans to relocate Pueblo's stockpile and would proceed with building a disposal facility on site, the Army announced it would evaluate relocation options. He said moving the weapons across state lines is illegal, so a study will waste taxpayer dollars.
"I've already been told by Pentagon officials that the study is going to conclude that the transportation of the materials across state lines is not practical," Allard said.
Huntsman has repeatedly emphasized his opposition to the state becoming a "dumping ground" for radioactive and toxic waste and has said he is concerned about the potential transfer of additional chemical weapons to Utah for disposal.
The Army's Chemical Materi- als Agency (CMA) announced Jan. 19 it would look at options for moving some of the stockpiles in Colorado and Kentucky to existing facilities in other states in order to meet an April 2012 treaty deadline for weapons destruction. Disposal facilities are now operating in Utah, Oregon, Alabama and Maryland.
