The progress of destroying weapons at the Pueblo Chemical Depot is a topic community members are closely watching, and the possibility of the Army using an explosive destruction technology to get rid of some of the munitions has some concerned. That's why a second public meeting to allow residents to make comments about these processes was held in Pueblo, Tuesday.

The current plan is to destroy the majority of mustard agent ammunition through a water neutralization process, leaving only a small portion of leaking and damaged rounds to be disposed of in another way.

The army wants to use an explosive destruction technology to get rid of these leaking rounds, and others that could be dangerous to manually disassemble. In total, about 125,000 rounds could be destroyed this way.

According to Kevin Flamm, Project Manager with Civil Chemical Weapon Alternatives, the devices under consideration for destroying the rounds are fully self-contained, and meet federal safety standards. An environmental assessment concluded that no significant impacts would occur as a result of the construction and operation of explosive destruction technology. "All that the explosive destruction technology would be used for would be to augment and destroy a small portion of that stockpile, primarily focusing on the 4-2 mortars and the 105 millimeter cartridges," explains Flamm.

But some residents are still concerned that things may change. "I really don't have a problem with that, if that's all they're going to do. I'm concerned about them expanding that and saying, gee this is quick, easy, let’s do it this way for everything," says Greg McClure, a St. Charles Mesa resident.

Flamm does admit using the explosive destruction technology would speed up the process of destroying the stockpile at the depot, helping them reach their goal by 2017. However, he says, there are no plans of replacing the water neutralization process which is slated for the remaining majority of mustard agent rounds.

If you couldn't make Tuesday's meeting, you can still comment on that project until April 30, 2010. For more information on this story you can visit the link below.