U.S. Senator Ken Salazar

Member of the Agriculture, Energy and Veterans Affairs Committees

 

2300 15th Street, Suite 450 Denver, CO 80202 | 702 Hart Senate Building, Washington, D.C. 20510

 

 

For Immediate Release

September 28, 2005

CONTACT:    Cody Wertz – Press Secretary

                        202-228-3630

Jen Clanahan – Deputy Press Secretary

                        303-455-7600

 

Sen. Salazar Moves Pueblo Chemical Weapons Depot Stockpile Closer to Destruction

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The people of Pueblo may soon be safe from stockpiled chemical munitions stored at the Pueblo Chemical Depot. At the request of United States Senator Ken Salazar, the Army will be required to complete the on-site weapons destruction efforts for the Depot by 2012. Senator Salazar’s request was included in the Department of Defense Appropriations Act, 2006 (HR 2863) approved by the Senate Appropriations Committee today.

“For too long, the Department of Defense has dragged its feet on fulfilling its obligations under U.S. law, keeping the people of Pueblo in constant danger. These dangerous chemical stockpiles are a major national security threat in Colorado and must be destroyed without any further delays,” said Senator Salazar.

As part of the FY06 budget and in response to a specific request by Senator Salazar, the bill requires the Defense Department to no longer delay the chemical munitions destruction process, and complete the weapons destruction by the 2012 deadline required under U.S. law.

“These funds will ensure that Colorado helps to keep America’s armed forces on the cutting edge and, most importantly, helps to keep Americans safe,” said Senator Salazar. “In these times of uncertainty, maintaining a top-drawer military force is of paramount importance.”

Having been passed by the full Senate Appropriations Committee, the FY06 Defense Appropriations bill (HR 2863) will now move to the full Senate for consideration. If passed by the Senate, it will then proceed to conference committee to iron out differences before being passed again by both House and Senate in final form and then submitted to the President for signature or veto.

Below is a list of the nearly $1 billion in Defense Appropriations projects requested and secured for Colorado by Senator Salazar:

REQUEST
 REGION
 SPECIFIC COUNTY
 FY06 ADMIN. BUDGET
 APPROP’TD
Pueblo Chemical Depot
 Arkansas River
 Pueblo
 $ 33,000,000
 $ 51,000,000
AIT-enabled Aviation Pack-up Kit/ Phase IV Engineering
 Greater Metro
 Boulder
N/A
 $ 2,000,000
Handheld Chemical Threat Monitor/ Eltron Research and Foster-Miller
 Greater Metro
 Boulder
N/A
 $ 4,500,000
Large Aperture Deployable Structure/ Starsys
 Greater Metro
 Boulder
N/A
 $ 3,300,000
Medical Image Database/ StorageTek
 Greater Metro
 Boulder/
Louisville
 N/A
 $ 2,000,000
Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle/ Lockheed Martin
 Greater Metro
 Denver
  $784,347,000
Space Radar System/ Lockheed Martin
 Greater Metro
 Denver
$225,839
$100,000,000
Anti Torpedo Torpedo/ Barber Nicols Inc.
 Greater Metro
 Jefferson/Arvada
 N/A $ 3,000,000
Deployable Structures Experiment/ MicroSat
 Greater Metro
 Jefferson/Littleton N/A $ 3,800,000
Combat Support Hospitals/ Alaska Structures
 Hwy. 50 West Region
 Delta
 N/A
 $ 5,000,000
Center for Geosciences/ Colorado State University (CSU)
 North Central
 Ft. Collins/ Larimer
 N/A
 $ 2,000,000
Bipolar Wafer-cell Lithium-ion Battery/ Electro Energy Mobile Products
 Pikes Peak
El Paso/Colo. Springs
 N/A
 $ 1,000,000
University of Colorado at Colorado Springs (UCCS)
 Pikes Peak
El Paso/Colo. Springs
 N/A
 $ 4,600,000
Adaptive Sports Program
       $ 150,000
TOTAL
       $966,697,000

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