2 Companies to Destroy Chemicals in Syria’s Arsenal
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Version 0 of 1. Two hazardous-waste disposal companies, based in the United States and Finland, have been selected to help incinerate the chemicals in Syria’s weapons arsenal, the organization responsible for overseeing the destruction announced on Friday, as new worries emerged about possible Syrian procrastination in exporting the 1,200-ton stockpile. The Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, The Hague-based group that polices compliance with the global treaty that bans such munitions, said that the two companies — Veolia Environmental Services Technical Solutions, which is an American subsidiary of Veolia Environnement of France, and the Finnish company Ekokem OY AB — were awarded contracts after a review of the 14 bids submitted last month. Ahmet Uzumcu, director general of the organization, said in a statement on its website that the selection “represents an important step toward the full destruction of Syrian chemical weapons within the agreed timelines.” No details were disclosed by the organization or the two winning bidders on the cost. It also remained unclear precisely when the destruction of the chemicals would start, partly because the vast majority remain in Syria despite pressure on the Syrian government to expedite their export. Denisse Ike, a spokeswoman for Veolia, which describes itself as the world’s largest environmental company, said, “We have not been notified of the timeline.” The list of chemicals in Mr. Uzumcu’s announcement included substances with both civilian and military applications such as phosphorus pentasulfide, a toxic solid that is both highly flammable and decomposes violently when wet; phosphorus trichloride, a widely used industrial compound that is also a precursor in nerve agent weapons; and dimethyl phosphate, another precursor compound that can also be used in pesticides and lubricants. A statement on Veolia’s website stressed that the substances it will destroy, at the company’s incineration complex in Port Arthur, Tex., were not chemical weapons themselves but rather “standard commercial industrial chemicals that were earmarked for use for the Syrian program, stored in bulk and never used.” The statement said that the citizens of Port Arthur and southeast Texas should not be worried and that the substances to be destroyed were “standard commercial industrial chemicals transported and widely used across the United States every day.” Ekokem made similar assurances to Finns on its website, saying, “This type of waste treatment is a normal business.” The announcement came against a backdrop of frustration with the Syrian government of President Bashar al-Assad over the missed deadlines in his pledge, enshrined in a United Nations Security Council resolution unanimously passed last September, to get rid of the chemical stockpile following worldwide outrage over a chemical weapons attack near Damascus on Aug. 21 for which the government and insurgents blamed each other. Only three shipments have been exported so far. Reuters, quoting unidentified sources, reported Friday that the three shipments represented only 11 percent of the total tonnage destined for destruction abroad. The original plan for the disposal, devised by the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons and the United Nations, called for the export of all 1,200 tons by Feb. 5. Mr. Assad has argued that his forces cannot safely move the chemical compounds in the midst of Syria’s nearly three-year-old civil war. But Western officials have expressed increased annoyance and accused him of stalling. Russian officials have sought to mollify the Western impatience with assurances that the Syrian government intended to export the entire stockpile by March 1. That prospect, however, looks increasingly unlikely. The United Nations secretary general, Ban Ki-moon, who has also pressed the Syrian government to move faster, has said he remains confident that the destruction of the arsenal will take place as scheduled on or before June 30, the deadline specified in the Security Council resolution. The most dangerous materials are to be neutralized at sea by the Cape Ray, an American naval vessel specially outfitted for that purpose, which departed its Norfolk, Va., home port on Jan. 27 for the Mediterranean. American officials expressed renewed irritation with the Syrian government on Friday because of expectations that the destruction process aboard the Cape Ray would have started by now. Capt. John Kirby, a Pentagon spokesman, said the Cape Ray had arrived in Rota, Spain, where it would remain “until we know that enough material has been moved for her to go — to go get it and to start destruction.” |