for immediate release, Friday,
January 27, 2006
KEF DIRECTOR AND US SENATOR HONORED WITH CHAMBER OF COMMERCE AWARD FOR WORK
ON SAFE WEAPONS DISPOSAL AT BLUE GRASS DEPOT
RICHMOND, KY-Last night at the Richmond
Chamber of Commerce Annual Award Banquet, Craig Williams, Executive Director
of the Kentucky Environmental Foundation and the Chemical Weapons Working
Group, was presented with the Chamber's 2006 "Community Service Award."
Also receiving the award was U.S. Senator Mitch McConnell, who was unable
to attend the ceremony due to his obligations in Washington. Both men were
honored for their diligent and successful efforts in assuring the continued
progress of chemical weapons destruction at the Blue Grass Army Depot for
more than a decade. This long road to safe weapons destruction in Kentucky
has been uphill and rocky.
In the past year alone, Pentagon officials attempted to put Kentucky on
a "caretaker status" while eliminating funds for the program--a situation,
which could have resulted either in the transportation of the weapons to other
sites for destruction or in continued storage for an additional five years
before construction would begin. Williams and McConnell spearheaded efforts
to thwart the Pentagon's efforts by drawing local and statewide attention
to the implications of the plan, which then culminated in the passage of federal
legislation ensuring the disposal program would move forward.
Although community safety has always been the men's primary goal, part of
their focus has also been the economic impact on Central Kentucky if the project
were to be delayed or eliminated. It is anticipated that the weapons
destruction project will create 600 - 800 jobs over a ten-year period and
will award millions of dollars in contracts to local and regional businesses
"It's only right that the community that has lived with the risk of storing
these weapons for 40+ years benefit from the effort to destroy them," said
Williams.
In a statement read on his behalf, McConnell said, "I think that the fact
that my friend Craig and I are both receiving this award perfectly captures
the close public/private partnership that has developed with respect to the
chemical disposal efforts at Blue Grass Army Depot. We have made much
progress together on this issue but much work remains to be done. With
the community's help, I will continue to work to ensure that these agents
are disposed of as safely and efficiently as possible."
Williams added, "The struggle for safe weapons destruction has engaged all
segments of our community and it has been especially rewarding to see the
environmental and business sectors working so closely together. Obviously,
communities need both good jobs and a clean environment. The weapons disposal
project here in Kentucky has proven we can achieve both,"
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