Request issued for extra $20M for weapons destruction

Ronica Shannon
Register News Writer

September 17, 2008 07:35 am

— The U.S. Senate Appropriations Committee approved the 2009 president’s budget request Friday that includes an additional $47 million in funding for chemical weapons destruction at the Blue Grass Army Depot here and the destruction site in Pueblo, Colo.
However, the request issued by Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., in February also included an extra $20 million that is only to be used at the Richmond site.
“This is only the first step in the (fiscal year) ‘09 budget process, but as a senior member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, I will fight to secure these and additional resources in the final bill,” McConnell said, inferring that more funding may be secured for the two project sites in the future.
The $47 million in funding can be applied to either (the Kentucky or Colorado) site at whatever increment is required based on how things are proceeding at that particular site, said Craig Williams, director of the Berea-based Chemical Weapons Working Group.
The total amount of money allocated for both sites now stands at about $417 million, which is the most money ever appropriated to the weapons destruction initiative in a single year.
“It is important, particularly with the new accelerated deadlines (of 2017), to fund this effort at the levels required to get the job done,” Williams said. “This is an excellent indication that both the Pentagon and the Congress appreciate the significance of adequately funding the program.”
McConnell was responsible for enacting the mandated 2017 deadline last year.
This year’s projects at the depot have included: placing underground utilities such as gas lines, storm drains and sewer pipes; erecting canopy covers to protect truck and car inspection areas at the access control building; installing concrete for the munitions demilitarization building and control support building; and constructing a substation for electricity distribution.
When operational, the facilities included in the destruction plant will be used to neutralize and render harmless the stockpile of chemical weapons that has been stored at the depot, some for as long as 60 years.
To learn more about the Blue Grass Chemical Agent Destruction Pilot Plant, contact the Blue Grass Chemical Stockpile Outreach Office at 1000 Commercial Drive, Suite 2, call 626-8944 or e-mail bgoutreach@bah.com.
Ronica Shannon can be reached at rshannon@richmondregister.com or 623-1669, Ext. 234.