The U.S. Senate approved a 2006 defense appropriations bill Friday that includes $53 million specifically for the Blue Grass Army Depot and the Pueblo, Colo., depot.

Funds were earmarked by U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell and Sen. Wayne Allard of Colorado. The money includes $20 million more that the president's budget allotted.

The funds will allow the government and its contractor, Bechtel Parsons Blue Grass, to continue with design work and reschedule construction activities at the depot.

Over the past year, the Department of Defense froze approximately $300 million of fiscal year 2005 funds for the Blue Grass Army Depot and the Pueblo, Colo., site and was conducting a study of possible ways to transport the chemical weapons across state lines.

McConnell announced April 7 that he authored a provision in the fiscal year 2005 supplemental appropriations bill that blocks the Department of Defense from redirecting funds to be used for the disposal of chemical weapons at the BGAD.

”With this additional funding, we took another important step toward the safe disposal of the chemical weapons stockpile at the Blue Grass Army Depot,“ McConnell said.

The additional funding ensures the uninterrupted progress toward the goal of destroying the more than 880,000 weapons stored at both sites.

”With the release of the funds previously frozen by the Pentagon and the $53 million approved for 2006, the BGAD disposal project has the resources it needs to begin preliminary construction,“ said Craig Williams, director of the Chemical Weapons Working Group in Berea.

”We must now focus on the 2007 budget to ensure the funds are there to complete the job,“ he said. ”Senator McConnell has again made sure this project stays on track by adding $20 million to the ‘06 monies and getting language in the bill allowing the funds to be used in line what the programs needs.“

The bill allows the funds to be spent in a variety of different ways, Allard said.

”The bill also allows the program manager to use these funds for either research and development, or for actual construction of the demilitarization facilities,“ he said. ”We must keep the momentum going until all the chemical weapons at (both sites) have been neutralized and no longer pose a potential threat to our communities.“

Ronica Brandenburg can be reached at rbrandenburg@ richmondregister.com or 623-1669, Ext. 234.