ACWA holding off on spending $400 million
By Ryan Garrett/Register News Writer

The program in charge with safely storing and disposing of chemical weapons here and in Pueblo, Colo., is holding off on spending about $400 million Congress appropriated for the projects.

The funds could be used to operate the projects at Blue Grass Army Depot and Pueblo Chemical Depot for one to two years, Bill Pehlivanian, deputy program manager for ACWA, told the Chemical Destruction Community Advisory Board on Tuesday.

The length of time would depend on the level of effort in the program, Pehlivanian said during a meeting at Eastern Kentucky University's Perkins Building.

Some of the funds are money that Assembled Chemical Weapons Alternatives (ACWA) and contractors in charge of the projects have yet to spend, he told the group.

The rest of the money was either saved as ACWA slowed the projects in anticipation of federal cuts to the program or frozen by the Pentagon as it awaits the results of a study on cost-saving disposal methods.

The Department of Defense issued a decision in December that prioritized funding for six operating and constructed sites over Blue Grass and Pueblo.

The decision also directed the Army and ACWA, which has already spent $98 million at Blue Grass alone, to conduct a study due by late March that examines alternatives including relocation and consolidation of stockpiles of the same weapons or agents.

To comply with a one-time extension of an international treaty, the Department of Defense must destroy 45 percent of the country's chemical weapons stockpile by December 2007 and 100 percent by April 2012.

"In addition to that 45 percent, they're looking at how best to move the project forward at all sites," Pehlavanian said.

Board members want to see that money released and are using several channels to encourage just that.

During the meeting, a board caucus agreed to continue contacting elected representatives with their concerns and to ask Gov. Ernie Fletcher to take a stance on the issue.

The caucus also agreed to contact Acting Undersecretary of Defense Michael Wynne with questions regarding the project. Wynne had been invited to attend Tuesday's meeting, but declined because of scheduling conflicts.

"There's a value in having these decision-makers meet some people who are actually affected by their decisions," said Craig Williams, board co-chair and director of the Chemical Weapons Working Group, a Berea-based citizen's watchdog organization.

For their parts, elected officials in Washington have been responsive to local concerns.

Congressional delegations from Kentucky and Colorado have chastised funding cuts to ACWA and co-sponsored bills in the House and Senate that would prevent the Army from completing its study on transporting the weapons.

"It is irresponsible that the administration continues to spend billions of dollars in Iraq, but will not fulfill its obligation to the citizens of Kentucky by funding the weapons disposal program at the Blue Grass Army Depot," Rep. Ben Chandler, D-6th district, said in a statement last week.

"While I understand the budgetary constraints within the Department of Defense, we have an immediate responsibility to the citizens of America to dispose of our chemical weapons stockpiles," he said. "This funding is critical for the safety of our community, and I committed to working with Senator McConnell to increase the funding available for the program."

Still, there have already been several setbacks caused by President Bush's proposed budget, which severely gutted funding for Blue Grass and Pueblo.

Chris Midgett, project manager for Bechtel Parsons Blue Grass, the contractor hired to design the more than $2 billion facility, has had to suspend all construction tasks and bids while implementing a hiring freeze.

"If what is presently proposed goes forward, there is very little we will be able to do for the next five years," Midgett said.

Regardless of any savings' tactics found in the Army's study or by Bechtel Parsons, the project cannot move forward with $30 million split between the two sites, said Carlis Richards, director of the Madison County Emergency Management Agency.

"We're saving pennies when we need to be finding $100 bills," Richards said.

Should the frozen $400 million be made available, the project still has been set back several months because of environmental and other regulations, Williams said.

"Even if that money was released, it's not like everybody's standing there with their bulldozers and they've just turned the engines off," he said.

However, not everyone wants to see the project move forward in the direction that had been expected.

Richmond resident Bill Scrivner told the board he would like a referendum put on the ballot to let voters say whether they are opposed to having the weapons shipped to incinerators in other states.

None of Scrivner's acquaintances are opposed to the weapons being transported, he said.

"It's fast, it's safe and it saves money," Scrivner said during a break in the meeting. "All the people with the hue and cry 'We can't do it' - they've all got vested interests."

Board member Jeanne Hibberd countered that all the communities where the weapons might pass through would also then deserve a vote.

ACWA has demonstrated that civic engagement and public comment can be effective in establishing such programs, and the Department of Defense is now ignoring that, Hibberd said.

"I think that is throwing egg in the faces of people who spent a big chunk of their lives working on this issue," she said.

Ryan Garrett can be reached at rgarrett@richmondregister.com or at 623-1669, Ext. 234.