Advisory board plans to mount letter-writing campaign to D.C.

By Tim Weldon/Sun Staff Writer

Scrambling to find ways to get a planned facility to neutralize chemical weapons at the Blue Grass Army Depot in Madison County back on track, members of the Chemical Destruction Community Advisory Board agreed Tuesday to resort to quiet diplomacy with Washington policymakers.

Faced with severe funding cuts by the Pentagon and a locally unpopular proposal to study transporting 523 tons of deadly chemical weapons to other disposal sites that already are operating or under construction, the board decided during a meeting in Richmond to mount a letter-writing campaign.

Chairman Craig Williams, who also heads the Chemical Weapons Working Group, suggested writing congressional leaders who are in a position to resurrect funding for the proposed neutralization plant that would destroy chemical weapons that have been stored at the depot for decades.

But even if Congress restores funding that may not be a guarantee that the money will be spent.

Responding to questions posed by Williams, Bill Pehlivanian, deputy program manager for Assembled Chemical Weapons Alternatives, acknowledged the Pentagon has frozen approximately $400 million in federal funds earmarked for neutralization facilities at the BGAD and at Pueblo, Colo. Pehlivanian said, if released, the money would continue design and initial construction for one to two years, even without additional funding.

Williams also suggested writing letters to Defense Department officials Michael Wynne and Pat Wakefield, both of whom are considered influential policymakers regarding budget appropriations to destroy chemical munitions.

The deteriorating chemical weapons, which are stored in concrete and earth-covered igloos approximately 11 miles from Clark County, are among the most deadly weapons on the planet. Kentucky's congressional delegation has pledged to work to restore funding for the neutralization facility and to prevent the weapons from being transported to other sites.

Chris Midgett, project manager for Bechtel Parsons Blue Grass, told the committee that the environmental permitting process is ahead of schedule.

According to an international treaty, the government is required to destroy its stockpile of chemical weapons by 2012.