Congressman Salazar: DOD Should Keep Faith with Pueblo Community on Chemical Depot

WASHINGTON, DC – Congressman Salazar released the following statement today in response to the Department of Defense’s (DOD) announcement to consider relocation of Pueblo’s chemical weapons stockpile:

““For decades, the Pueblo community has served as good stewards for almost 10% of our nation’s chemical weapons stockpile.  As part of this commitment, we built a partnership with the Department of Defense to build a facility and destroy the stockpiled weapons.  This was a project in which the community and the military could work together to do what was in the best interest our state’s homeland security and improve our local economy.

“American taxpayers have already invested an estimated $15 million dollars a year just to store the chemical weapons, accepting the risk to their neighborhoods because of the expectation that the construction would create more than 1000 jobs. In fact, the DOD would have been the largest employer in the region. The surprise nature of the announcement to eliminate the project was a breach of partnership and understandably upset the community.

“Moving the weapons stockpile increases the risk of contamination, accident, or security threats. We need to eliminate the threat to our neighborhoods and communities, not increase the risk by moving volatile chemical weapons across hundreds of miles. We need to take care of the problem, not transfer it to another community to be dealt with at a later date. And we need the DOD to keep its promise to create jobs in Colorado.

“Earlier in the week, I had invited the DOD to come out and meet with the community residents and provide an explanation to the people most affected by the decision. I will work with our U.S. Senators to encourage the DOD to reconsider and reaffirm their commitment to quickly and safely eliminate Pueblo’s chemical weapon stockpile.”