Lexington Herald-Leader
May. 27, 2003

New chemical alarms sought; Army Depot systems would be replaced

By Art Jester
HERALD-LEADER STAFF WRITER

An amendment by U.S. Sen. Jim Bunning was praised yesterday as one of the most important steps in a two-decade campaign to improve safeguards for the chemical warfare agents stored at Bluegrass Army Depot in Madison County and other sites around the nation.

Bunning attached a provision Thursday to the defense spending bill for fiscal 2004 that said the Army should get rid of "inefficient and outdated" alarm systems and replace them with "newer and advanced technologies."

"We think this is a tremendous step forward in the protection of the region," said Craig Williams of Berea, who has led a citizens' effort for 19 years to improve safety at Bluegrass Army Depot, where the Army has about 520 tons of chemical warfare agents in storage.

Williams said current monitoring systems take 15 to 20 minutes to determine whether there has been a chemical leakage or a false alarm.

The latest technology can determine in 15 seconds whether an alarm is accurate and which agent is involved.

"The people of Kentucky will be better protected during storage and disposal of the chemical weapons due to the efforts of Senator Bunning," Williams said.

The Senate passed the defense spending bill (S. 1050) 98-1 last week, and a similar bill was approved by the U.S. House of Representatives. Eventually, Senate and House leaders will meet to iron out details.

Bunning called his measure "common-sense stuff, and I am eager to get right at it ... to help better protect the public, the personnel in the chemical demilitarization program and our environment," Bunning said.

Bunning applauded Wil-liams, director of the Chemical Weapons Working Group, for providing guidance.

Bunning's amendment would have a similarly important affect on chemical agent storage sites in Oregon, Utah, Colorado, Arkansas, Indiana and Maryland.

Williams said Bunning's amendment advances a 9-year-old recommendation for the independent National Research Council that the Army upgrade its monitoring systems at chemical weapons storage and disposal sites.

Two years ago, the Army opposed an amendment similar to Bunning's. In addition, the Army says it wants to use the most modern monitoring technology, which is another step forward on the issue, Williams said.

He said that the move to upgrade chemical agent monitoring has also gained the support of Mike Parker, director of the Chemical Material Agency, and Claude Bolton, an assistant secretary of the Army who has authority over the storage and disposal of chemical weapons.