Citizen Resistance to Chemical Weapons Incineration: Can NEPA Give Local Communities Leverage over Military Arms Decommissioning Programs?

Abstract

Thousands of tons of chemical weapons are currently being stored in eight locations across the United States. Both a congressional act and an international treaty require the U.S. Army to destroy these chemical weapon stockpiles. The Army plans to use on-site incineration to destroy the weapons stored at four of these sites, and it has recently decided to use non-incineration processes to destroy the chemical agents stored at the other four sites. Two recent cases have been filed challenging the Army’s decision to continue pursuing incineration at half of the sites, alleging that the Army has violated the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) by failing to complete a supplemental environmental impact statement for the incineration program. This Note discusses why a court considering these issues should find that the Army has violated NEPA, and it also considers whether NEPA will be successful in stopping the Army’s use of incineration.