Richmond Mayor Connie Lawson says it left her "speechless."

Army watchdog Craig Williams says it is "intolerable." 

Madison County Emergency Management Agency Director Carl Richards says he is "disappointed" and feels like the community is "being betrayed." 

Those were among a few of the many swift and strong responses Tuesday to the Pentagon's plan to delay completion of the project to destroy 523 tons of chemical weapons stored at the Blue Grass Army Depot for at least eight years.  The current projected completion date is 2015.  The Pentagon wants to push that back to 2023.  Madison County leaders say the newest delay is costly and risky.

"For the Pentagon to intentionally put tens of thousands of Americans at an unneccesary risk by continuing to store these weapons is reprehensible," said Williams.

"I've got one job and that is to protect 80,000 peoplle that reside here in Madison County," noted Richards.  "Thwe longer that these chemicals reside here the harder my job is."

Among the stockpile are 70,000 m-55 rockets filled with gb or vx nerve agent.  Predicting the shelf life of those weapons, some of which are leaking, is difficult.  The aging weapons were brought to the depot in the early 1960's.

"The worst case credible event that could occur at that depot could replicate the number of citizens that were killed in 9-11," said Williams.  This is the second time in less than two years that the Pentagon has tried to stall the project, which, just this year, entered the construction phase at the depot south of Richmond.  With public outcry and intervention by Congress, a proposed five year funding freeze was over turned in the winter of 2005.  Now comes yet another challenge to a project that has faced numerous delays since the Army first suggested burning the stockpile in the early 1980's.

The local depot houses 1.7% of the nation's 31,500 ton chemical stockpile, two fifths of which has  been destroyed.