for more information contact:
Craig Williams: 859-986-7565
For immediate release: Thursday July 11, 2002
At a press conference held today in Richmond, citizens organizations, elected officials and community leaders from central Kentucky spoke out in strong support of alternatives to incineration for the disposal of the chemical weapons stored at the Blue Grass Army Depot. Three non-incineration technologies, demonstrated through the federal Assembled Chemical Weapons Assessment (ACWA) program, have been proven safe and effective for disposal of Kentucky's chemical weapons.
As a true milestone of unity between federal elected officials and citizens, the entire Kentucky Congressional Delegation today stated their support for deployment of non-incineration technologies for chemical weapons disposal. A letter from the Kentucky Delegation, sent to Governor Patton's Citizen Advisory Commission, expressed full support for a resolution they passed on June 10th. [See resolution below.] That resolution recommended "the deployment of one of the demonstrated ACWA technologies for disposal of Kentucky's chemical weapons stockpile."
The Kentucky Delegation's letter reads, "We wish to share
our support for the Resolution recently passed by your Kentucky
Chemical Demilitarization Citizen's Advisory Commission....We
are hopeful that we can continue to assist in any way possible
in the deployment of alternatives for the safe and timely destruction
of the chemical weapons stored at Bluegrass Depot."
Madison County residents praised the letter, expressing appreciation
for the efforts of federal elected officials in developing safer,
faster weapons disposal methods. Kentucky State Representative
Harry Moberly, who read parts of the letter during the press conference,
said, "Many years of persistent efforts by Madison County
and many, many other Kentuckians have given us alternative technologies
which are faster and safer for our community."
Since the mid-1980s, the Army has defended its decision to burn
chemical weapons. Despite the existence of safer technologies,
the only alternatives to incineration offered by the Army were
to transport the chemical weapons somewhere else, or do nothing
at all. Only through the ACWA program, created in 1997 from legislation
by Senator Mitch McConnell, does Kentucky have the option of three
proven non-incineration technologies, which have advantages such
as:
control and containment of chemical agent and its by-products,
even under upset conditions;
low-temperature, low-pressure treatment of chemical agent;
greater flexibility in disassembly of munitions; and
the benefit of faster stockpile destruction.
Chemical weapons stockpile communities in Maryland, Indiana and Colorado have already taken advantage of non-incineration disposal technologies. By contrast, chemical weapons incineration has resulted in smokestack releases of chemical agents, heavy metals and other toxics; chemical agent migration within the plant; and worker risks of chemical agent exposure. Local officials at stockpile sites have also been concerned with experimental modifications to the incineration process, and the losses in tourism, industry, agriculture, and environmental quality that are associated with incineration.
In May 2002 the Army released a draft Environmental Impact Statement for Blue Grass that offered four disposal options: incineration, two technologies involving neutralization and supercritical water oxidation, and electrochemical oxidation. Today's press conference took place just prior to an Army public comment session, designed to take input from the public on the Environmental Impact Statement. A final record of decision on disposal technologies is expected to be made by the Department of the Army sometime in Winter 2002.
Speaking at the press conference, Craig Williams, director of the Kentucky Environmental Foundation said, "It has been a long road to get to where we are today, but the citizens have stood strong in their push for safe disposal - thanks to the thousands of Kentuckians who demanded the best for Commonwealth, we have arrived."
Betsy Ney, lifelong Madison County resident, farmer, and mother of three said, "Since 1984 a few extremely significant questions have remained the same. Why would we put our children's health and futures at risk? Why would we choose to live in an unhealthy environment? 18 years later, the Army's own record for incineration has proven us right. We asked the right questions and now the facts speak for themselves. Let us all be proud that when we demanded safety for our county, our voices were heard."
Berea City Council member Steve Connelly summed up the sentiment of his Berea constituents, saying, "Let the technology decision be for neutralization, supercritical water oxidation or electrochemical oxidation. Let us not choose incineration."
Sylvia Powell, a retired teacher and Kentucky "Distinguished
Educator" from Richmond said, "In our schools we try
to instill in our students to be responsible, to be knowledgeable
and to seek the better way for solutions to problems. Surely
our students can expect the same of us as adult citizens...to
be responsible, to be knowledgeable and the seek the better way
by choosing a
proven alternative to incineration."
Passed on June 10, 2002
"The Kentucky Citizen's Advisory Commission (CAC) has completed a year-long review of technology options for disposal of Kentucky's chemical weapons stockpile. We believe we have found significant advantages to the technologies demonstrated by the Assembled Chemical Weapons Assessment (ACWA) program. In addition, we believe that nine years of input from the public to the CAC makes clear that Kentuckians overwhelmingly support an alternative to incineration.
Therefore, we recommend the deployment of one of the demonstrated ACWA technologies for disposal of Kentucky's chemical weapons stockpile."
Dr. Douglas Hindman - Co-Chair
Professor Worley Johnson - Co-Chair
Dr. Robert Miller - Member
Representative Harry Moberly - Member
Ms. Pat Greathouse - Member
Ms. Amanda Stafford - Member
Ms. Diane Kerby - Member
Ms. Kay Harker - Member, KY Department of Natural Resources (abstained)
Mr. Ronn Padgett - Member, KY Emergency Management Agency (abstained)
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