Local

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Posted on Wed. Jul. 19, 2006

Senate panels propose spending more on weapons disposal

By Peter Mathews

CENTRAL KENTUCKY BUREAU

Two budget bills approved by U.S. Senate subcommittees yesterday contain $360 million for the Defense Department agency that oversees chemical weapons destruction at Blue Grass Army Depot, U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell's office announced yesterday.

That figure represents a $10 million increase over President Bush's budget request and sets up a showdown with the House, whose budget cuts the military construction program by $40 million.

The money for the Assembled Chemical Weapons Alternatives program will be used to build plants in Madison County and in Colorado to destroy decades-old stockpiles of nerve and blister agent.

If the House cut were to prevail in conference committee, however, it could delay destruction of the weapons by a year and cost taxpayers $220 million, said Craig Williams, director of the Berea-based Chemical Weapons Working Group.

That's because construction contracts cannot be completed until all the funding is in place, and it would cost money to store and protect the weapons for another year, Williams said.

The funding in both bills is expected to be approved by the Senate Appropriations Committee this week and then go to the full Senate.

"This additional funding will help hasten the day when Kentucky citizens no longer have to live with deadly chemical weapons being stored in their midst," McConnell said in a statement.

The Kentucky Republican said Senate appropriations subcommittees also had approved requests for more than $98 million in defense-related projects in Kentucky, most of it for defense contractors and universities.

That includes more than $3 million in projects for the University of Kentucky.