The Blue Grass Chemical Agent-Destruction Pilot Plant (BGCAPP) is nearing 50% of completion for their work to demilitarize the 532 tons of chemical agent that has been stockpiled in Madison County since the 1940s.
Candace Coyle, site project manager for BGCAPP gave an update in the quarterly meeting with the Citizens’ Advisory Commission (CAC) and Chemical Destruction Community Advisory Board (CDCAB) on Wednesday on the progress made.
According to Coyle, nearly 226.8 tons of agent have been successfully, and safely, destroyed as of March 4.
That tonnage equates to 43.34% of the overall stockpile which contained 155 mm projectiles, GB 8-inch projectiles and VX 155 mm projectiles — which have since completed destruction campaigns.
Remaining are VX M55 rockets and GB M55 rockets. Following the finalization of the VX M55 rockets, expected in April or early summer, this will likely bring the BGCAPP destruction quota to 50% completion.
In total, approximately 78% of rockets have been destroyed.
Once the VX M55 rockets are destroyed, the BGCAPP and Bechtel Parsons Blue Grass (BPBG) groups will begin their work for “changeover” of the facility to process the final campaign of GB M55 rockets.
This changeover process from one campaign to another is typically scheduled for six months and includes decontamination and retooling items to process the other weapons. However, because of winter weather delays in the previous months, this changeover period has been reduced to three months in hopes to meet the September 30, 2023, deadline of destruction.
The congressional deadline held for destruction is December 31, 2023, which is mandated by an international treaty.
Ron Hink, project manager for BPBG, said this shortened changeover is well-planned out and the group was confident in its execution.
“That allows us to make up the time to get back on track,” Hink said.
Judge Executive Reagan Taylor, co-chair of the CDCAB, asked how the group felt so confident in condensing their changeover time by 90 days.
Hink replied because the Static Detonation Chamber (SDC) required little decontamination and cleanup efforts from the current campaign, and was already fitted for GB processing.
“Where we find ourselves today is the plant is clean, after everything we have done it is remarkably clean,” Hink said. “We don’t have a lot of 'decon' to do in those areas to get in there. We have streamlined getting the air monitoring set up, working through fast tracking we can do because there is a lot of knowledge and it is not our first rodeo. We know the plant and we have been down this road and we know how to anticipate and how materials move through the ventilation system.”
Officials present at the meeting including Kingston Reif, deputy assistant secretary of Defense for Threat Reduction and Arms Control, as well as Michael Abaie, program executive officer with Assembled Chemical Weapons Alternatives (ACWA), commended the work of all throughout the past three years.
“This program has been extremely fortunate to have this type of dedicated community involved in it through the CAC from the beginning of the project here at the Blue Grass Army Depot,” Reif said. “I also want to commend the people who have been working on the Blue Grass project who have made significant strides at this facility, namely destroying 43% of the chemical agent stored at the Blue Grass Army Depot and working vigorously to destroy the remaining chemical weapons stockpile here in Kentucky.”
He said the pride of the workers with the project are well-placed as the weapons being destroyed are “heinous” and belong in history.
Abaie agreed.
“I commend the workforce for their great work they have done under the COVID conditions. The last two years have not been easy but we have completed three campaigns during the COVID era and we are more than 75% complete in the fourth one. That is a testament to the work, dedication. That is huge,” Abaie said.
“With the plant, we are doing phenomenal work,”Abaie said. … “I am hoping in a short amount of time we will complete the changeover and start that final campaign, seeing us to that completion date that Mr. Reif was talking about the 30th of September, 2023. I am telling you, I will be the happiest man in the world…We will all celebrate together when that last bullet goes through and gets destroyed.”
Economic impact
While celebration is imminent, work has begun to address major concerns about funding that is brought in through this federal program with Chemical Stockpile Emergency Preparedness Program (CSEPP) and Madison County Emergency Management (EMA). Not to mention the potential threat to economic impact and tax revenue in Madison County, Richmond and Berea.
According to Madison County Judge Reagan Taylor, the post-CSEPP time frame will be a great impact on the community through the discontinuation of funding through the federal program, which finances additional public safety equipment and the 800 megahertz radio systems used in emergencies.
“This investment in that system is expensive and our local tax dollars have not paid for that for 30 plus years,” Taylor said in a previous Register interview. “There is a huge price tag that we have to take on post-CSEPP.”
To date, $192.6 million has been spent with Kentucky companies through the project at BGCAPP, and $112.8 million has been spent in Madison and surrounding counties. Almost 60% — or 1,436 individuals — make up the personnel hired locally.
Craig Williams, the co-chair of CAC and CDCAB, has been working with economic development groups with city and county officials to brace for this impact with the Economic Impact Working Group.
“How does this community cope with the extensive emergency preparedness that we have become used to because of the millions and millions of dollars that has been funneled into this community based upon the project?” Williams asked. “How do we deal with that? What equipment do we need to keep? What do we need to maintain?”
To help with these questions and points of concern, the Blue Grass Area Development District (BGADD) was awarded a $453,000 grant from the Defense Departments Office of Local Defense Community Cooperation (OLDCC). A 10% local match is required, but no determination has been made of who will finance that match.
BGADD will also head the effort of an analysis to formulate a baseline for both the federal and local governments to ensure that sustainable transition occurs during the ramp down of the weapons destruction activities at the depot.
These grant funds are distributed monthly, and are overseen through an Economic Resiliency Technical Advisory Committee with stakeholders including Judge Taylor, Deputy Judge Executive Jill Williams, Richmond Mayor Robert Blythe, Berea Mayor Bruce Fraley, Richmond Industrial Director David Stipes, Craig Williams, David Duttlinger (BGADD), Mikaela Gerry (BGADD) and Lucas Witt of MWMM Consulting.
In addition to advising the scope of work and reviewing the work products, this group will develop a public participation plan. The group will also oversee the identification of all existing information studies and reports as well as infrastructure assets off-base (non-Department of Defense property) within a 15-mile radius of the Blue Grass Army Depot.
Outside of the grant, efforts will continue to facilitate tax revenue to both Madison County and Richmond, as well as participating in analysis of the CSEPP funds provided during the demilitarization project to identify impacts to the community once the project ends with the objective to identify affected equipment, maintenance, and personnel. Discussions with federal organizations such as FEMA will be undertaken to see if post-de-mil grant funds might be available to reduce the short term impact of the cease in funding.