Weapons destruction planners are upbeat

RICHMOND - Those in charge of plans to build a $2 billion plant to destroy Blue Grass Army Depot's chemical weapons offered an upbeat assessment yesterday of where things stand.

Or would stand, if anyone knew that money will be forthcoming to pay for it all.

Permits are being obtained ahead of schedule and the plant design is 60 percent complete, members of the Chemical Destruction Community Advisory Board were told yesterday. Board members even got to see a nifty animated display showing how robots would chop rockets into pieces and remove the chemical agent inside.

But much work is on hold, because President Bush's proposed budget contains little money for research and no money for construction of the plant until Fiscal 2011.

"If what is presently proposed goes forward, there is very little we'll be able to do for the next five years," said Chris Midgett, project manager for Bechtel Parsons Blue Grass, the contractor.

In addition, the Pentagon has frozen $400 million appropriated previously for the federal agency that oversees the chemical neutralization program.

After the federal officials and Bechtel Parsons employees left the meeting, board members crafted a lobbying campaign.

They decided to invite Undersecretary of Defense Michael Wynne, who was unable to attend yesterday's meeting because of a schedule conflict, to visit Madison County.

Local officials also will write to the chairmen and ranking members of armed services and defense appropriations committees of both houses of Congress, to make them aware of their concerns.

Members of a second citizens' advisory group also will ask Patrick Wakefield, another Pentagon official, for a briefing as the Army evaluates transporting chemical weapons to disposal sites in other states.