For more than half a century, the United States has maintained a stockpile of chemical agents and munitions for possible use in wartime. The United States maintains its stockpile principally to deter other countries from using such weapons against U.S forces. Since signing the Geneva Protocol condemning chemical weapons, the United States has sought to eliminate those in its own arsenal in a safe and environmentally responsible way. Up until the late 1960s, chemical agents and munitions were routinely disposed of using methods dating back to World War I, such as open-pit burning, land burial, or ocean dumping. The Army launched an extensive program that involves the development of new disposal concepts and process technology, new rigid worker safety and health standards and advanced monitoring equipment to document compliance with new health and safety standards and environmental regulations. Therefore, the Army established the Chemical Stockpile Disposal Project (CSDP).

The purpose of the Chemical Stockpile Disposal Project (CSDP) is to dispose of the stockpiled chemical agents and munitions, thereby eliminating the risk to the public from their continued deterioration and storage. After careful review of the options available for destroying the chemical stockpile, the Army decided that the safest way to dispose of the chemical weapons was by on-site incineration. This decision, which was supported by several independent studies, would eliminate the risk of transporting the stockpile to a centralized facility and confine the disposal process to the sites where the stockpiles are stored. Additional information on the Army's chemical demilitarization program can be found at http://www.cma.army.mil