Published: October 28, 2006 11:08 pm      

Community celebrates beginning of weapon destruction mission

America’s final groundbreaking for a chemical weapon destruction plant was celebrated Saturday and marked the beginning of the Blue Grass Army Depot’s mission to end the 62-year storage of these weapons.

A ceremony was conducted in the Keen Johnson Building at Eastern Kentucky University and Sen. Mitch McConnell was keynote speaker for the event.

“This is the day we break ground on the disposal of heinous chemical weapons that have threatened this community for as long as they have been stored at the Blue Grass Army Depot,” he said. “It has been a hard road to get where we are today. We have had to push the Pentagon every step of the way.”

McConnell has made consistent efforts to make sure the Department of Defense properly assists the mission.

In the past two years, the DOD has frozen and diverted funds originally allotted for the destruction of America’s chemical weapons.

“People in the community alerted me to this, and we were able to stop that effort in its tracks through legislation,” he said. “The community has worked hard and kept a close eye on what has been going on at the depot. You have informed me time and again of problems that have come along, and we’ve been able to fix those problems legislatively.”

McConnell was one of several guest speakers that included Michael Parker, program manager for Assembled Chemical Weapons Alternatives (ACWA); Gen. Benjamin Griffin, commander of the Army Material Command; Jean Reed, special assistant for Chemical and Biological Defense for the office of the Secretary of Defense; Madison Judge-Executive Kent Clark; Richmond Mayor Connie Lawson; Teresa Hill, secretary for the Kentucky Environmental and Public Protection Cabinet; Doug Hindman, chair of the Kentucky Chemical Demilitarization Citizens’ Advisory Commission; Craig Williams, co-chair of the Community Destruction Community Advisory Board and director of the Chemical Weapons Working Group; and Chris Haynes, project manager for the Bechtel Parsons Blue Grass Team that was chosen as the army’s contractor for the pilot plant project.

Clark, a member of the Kentucky Chemical Demilitarization Citizens’ Advisory Commission, spoke of the first time he met Williams, who was just beginning his fight against the Army’s first suggestion for weapon destruction – incineration.

“In the early 90s, I met this hippy with long hair and an earring who has this working group,” Clark said. “He called and wanted to meet with me, but I put him off.”

Their first 10-minute meeting lasted almost an hour-and-a-half, Clark said.

“What he has done to educate the community is tremendous,” he said. “He showed us the best way to get rid of these chemical weapons.”

Williams credited his wife for getting him to begin his mission of stopping the weapons from being burned at the depot.

“We had just heard that they were going to burn these weapons in the middle of our community and my wife looked at me and said ‘Someone has to do something,’” Williams said.

He also has made strides with McConnell to see that the destruction is done as quickly as possible and in the best interest of the community and the environment.

“During this process, we’ve learned that openness and transparency is fundamental.”

Cooperation has been another need in the process of eliminating the weapons, Lawson said.

“It has been very important that we stand united,” she said. “However, greatness is not in where we stand, but in what direction we’re moving.”

Site preparation for the facility is moving along quickly and will continue into 2007 as contractors erect a security fence around the site and construct a guard station, the facility’s first building. Other earth and concrete work will be performed as roadway lighting, communication cables and other utilities are installed.

Ronica Shannon can be reached at rshannon@richmondregister.com or 623-1669, Ext. 234.