for more information:
Craig Williams 859-986-7565 or
859-302-1103 (cell)
for immediate release Friday, June 13, 2003
Today, the Army awarded the contract for destruction of the 524 tons of chemical warfare agents and associated munitions stored at the Bluegrass Army Depot in Madison County KY to the San Francisco-based Bechtel Corporation. The company is already contracted to neutralize the warfare agents stored in Aberdeen MD and Pueblo CO. They are teamed with Parsons, Inc. of Pasadena CA, who has the neutralization contract for the stockpile in Newport IN.
Craig Williams, executive director of the Kentucky-based Chemical Weapons Working Group (CWWG), a national coalition advocating safe non-incineration chemical weapons disposal, said about the contract, "We are pleased that this step in Kentucky's disposal program has been taken in a timely manner. We look forward to working with the Bechtel/Parsons team to help maintain the program transparency model used so effectively within the ACWA [Assembled Chemical Weapons Alternative] Program. This unique Army program successfully demonstrated not only that neutralization can destroy each type of warfare agent stored here, but additionally that informed and participating citizens are an important component of the process."
Commenting on the Army's decision, Chris Midgett, Bechtel's general manager for the Bluegrass site Chris Midgett said, "We are pleased that the Army and the ACWA Program have chosen the Bechtel/Parsons Blue Grass Team to safely destroy the chemical weapons stockpile at the Blue Grass Army Depot. We look forward to partnering with the Army and the citizens of Kentucky. We bring a dedicated and experienced Project Team that is knowledgeable of the chosen technologies for destruction of these chemical weapons."
Neutralization followed by Super Critical Water Oxidation (SCWO), the choice of community organizations and Kentucky's federal elected officials, who fought for years for a safer and more efficient disposal technology than incineration, was finally approved for the Bluegrass stockpile by the Army last February. The SCWO team will be led by General Atomics of San Diego CA.
Employing neutralization, Kentucky's mustard agent will be destroyed with warm water and the nerve agents VX and GB with a warm water and caustic solution. The lethal warfare agents will be contained within the neutralization system until they are certified completely destroyed, before moving the hydrolysate [byproducts] to the SCWO units for final treatment. Unlike the Army's incinerators which routinely release uncombusted agents and other toxics to the environment, this disposal method does not require an air contamination permit.
The CWWG plans to also work closely with Mike Parker, director of the Army's newly-formed Chemical Materials Agency that has oversight of the Bluegrass destruction program, to ensure program transparency and ongoing citizen participation in decisions that affect them and their well-being. "Mr. Parker has a history of supporting citizen participation and already has a reputation for dealing honestly and transparently with Kentucky residents," Williams commented. "We anticipate continuing our strong working relationship with him and his staff and establishing a similar relationship with Bechtel/Parsons officials during Kentucky's chemical weapons destruction process."
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