# Plain Language Summary: Pueblo Jobs Act

This bill directs the U.S. Army to close down the Pueblo Chemical Depot in Colorado within one year after it finishes destroying chemical weapons stored there. The depot has been operating as a facility to safely break down and dispose of chemical weapons in compliance with an international treaty called the Chemical Weapons Convention. Once that destruction work is complete, the Army needs to shut down the facility and figure out what to do with all the land, buildings, and equipment left behind.

The closure process will follow standard federal procedures used whenever the military closes down bases or facilities. This means the Army will work through an established legal framework to manage the property and eventually sell it or transfer it to other uses. The bill also allows the Department of Defense to provide grants and financial support to help the local Pueblo community plan for what comes next after the depot closes—essentially helping the area transition and potentially develop new jobs and economic opportunities once the military facility is gone.

One important detail in the bill is that the land and buildings from the chemical weapons destruction plant are considered unsuitable for use as homeless shelters or housing, given the hazardous nature of the work that happened there. The bill also makes clear that the Army can continue removing and demolishing contaminated buildings and structures according to existing environmental permits already approved by Colorado, so cleanup and demolition work won't be delayed by the closure process.

Pueblo Jobs Act

Boebert, Lauren

Pueblo Jobs ActThis bill requires the Department of the Army to close Pueblo Chemical Depot in Pueblo County, Colorado, not later than one year after the completion of the chemical demilitarization mission in accordance with the Chemical Weapons Convention Treaty. The Department of the Army must carry out the closure and related property management and disposal of the depot in accordance with the Defense Base Closure and Realignment Act of 1990.The bill authorizes the Office of Local Defense Community Cooperation within the Department of Defense to make grants and supplement other federal funds to support closure and reuse activities of the depot.