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Program Executive Office, Assembled Chemical Weapons Alternatives (PEO ACWA)Program Executive Office, Assembled Chemical Weapons Alternatives (PEO ACWA)Program Executive Office, Assembled Chemical Weapons Alternatives (PEO ACWA)Program Executive Office, Assembled Chemical Weapons Alternatives (PEO ACWA)
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      Program Executive Office, Assembled Chemical Weapons Alternatives (PEO ACWA)


      Mission: Destroy Chemical Weapons Stockpile

      Vision: Chemical Weapons Free by 2023

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      Blue Grass Chemical Agent-Destruction Pilot Plant (BGCAPP)

      BGCAPP is safely destroying the chemical weapons stockpile currently in storage at the Blue Grass Army Depot near Richmond, Kentucky.

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      Pueblo Chemical Agent-Destruction Pilot Plant (PCAPP)

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Biologist Maintains Native Grasslands Around Blue Grass Plant

Published: February 25, 2016 | Category: BGCAPP News, Environment, People
Tom Edwards, biologist assigned to the Blue Grass Army Depot, Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources, smiles as he prepares for a prescribed burn of depot native grasslands. This planned and scheduled activity helps the grasslands flourish by burning back non-native species to allow the native ones more access to resources.

Tom Edwards, biologist assigned to the Blue Grass Army Depot, Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources, smiles as he prepares for a prescribed burn of depot native grasslands. This planned and scheduled activity helps the grasslands flourish by burning back non-native species to allow the native ones more access to resources.

For more than 30 years, one Commonwealth of Kentucky employee has ensured prairie remnants – grasslands of native Kentucky species – flourish on the Blue Grass Army Depot (BGAD).

“The depot is very focused on wildlife and habitat conservation,” said Tom Edwards, biologist assigned to BGAD from the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife. “Native grasslands are important to grassland-nesting wildlife like the American woodcock and bobwhite quail. For those species to prosper we have to have grasslands, so we work hard to restore and conserve those areas.”

Edwards said he has worked with the depot since 1981, helping preserve, maintain and promote native grasslands and many other wildlife initiatives on the depot, including areas around the Blue Grass Chemical Agent-Destruction Pilot Plant. He is responsible for heading a program that has created more than 150 acres of native grassland on the depot through a seed-harvesting and saving program.

“I remember sitting in my front yard with a bunch of school children, hand-picking seeds for the grasslands program,” said Edwards. “Now we have enough to continue the expansion of the depot grasslands and also package some as depot souvenirs for special visitors.”

Blue Grass plant personnel see the effects of conservation programs every time they drive to and from the site on the 1 1/2–mile access road. Planning for the road had to take into account the protection of endangered running buffalo clover, so it was rerouted from its originally planned location.

“The scenery is beautiful around the site,” said Erin Bowman, maintenance administrator, AECOM. “I see deer or turkey almost every time I drive in or out for work, and it’s great to hear bobwhites when my day is done and I am heading home.”

More BGCAPP Environment Articles

  • Technicians program a Rocket Warhead Containerization System robot inside the Blue Grass Chemical Agent-Destruction Pilot Plant in February. This equipment is the subject of one of four Kentucky Department for Environmental Protection permit modification requests currently in a public comment period.

    Public Involvement Opportunities for Permit Modification Requests

    Published: April 5, 2021
  • Comment Period Open for Plant Permit Modification Requests

    Comment Period Open for Plant Permit Modification Requests

    Published: January 28, 2021
  • First-Time Filter Change Activity

    First-Time Filter Change Activity

    Published: December 29, 2020
  • Comment Period Open for Plant Permit Modification

    Comment Period Open for Plant Permit Modification

    Published: October 13, 2020
  • Blue Grass plant munitions handlers unpack filters in anticipation of the Explosive Destruction Technology Service Magazine filter changeout at the Blue Grass Chemical Agent-Destruction Pilot Plant

    Workers Complete Filter Change

    Published: August 20, 2020
  • Site preparation continues at the Blue Grass Static Detonation Chamber (SDC) 2000 at the Blue Grass Chemical Agent-Destruction Pilot Plant.

    Comment Period Open for Plant Permit Modifications

    Published: July 16, 2020
  • A waste operator practices moving waste drums on pallets at the Blue Grass Chemical Agent-Destruction Pilot Plant Container Storage Facility. The plant’s hazardous waste is regulated by a standard hazardous waste permit through the Kentucky Department for Environmental Protection.

    Permit Conversion Public Comment Period Open Through Dec. 11

    Published: December 5, 2019
  • A technician watches as a tray of test projectile bodies moves through the Metal Parts Treater (MPT) for a conveyor alignment check at the Blue Grass Chemical Agent-Destruction Pilot Plant. The MPT Surrogate Test Plan was the subject of a recent Class 1 modification to the plant’s hazardous waste permit.

    Minor Permit Modifications Routine Business for Plant

    Published: August 20, 2019
  • Col. Joseph Kurz, commander, Blue Grass Army Depot, discusses Blue Grass Chemical Agent-Destruction Pilot Plant processes with Ron Hink, project manager, Bechtel Parsons Blue Grass. The commander signed his acceptance of a Finding of No Significant Impact generated from a May 2019 environmental assessment for augmentation of plant processing capability July 1.

    Signature Signals Path Forward for Additional Equipment

    Published: July 25, 2019
  • Madison County, Kentucky, residents listen to a presentation about the environmental assessment for the proposed action for processing nerve agent-filled munitions at the Blue Grass Army Depot at a May 21 public meeting. The public comment period for this action ends June 17.

    Environmental Assessment Public Comment Period Open Through June 17

    Published: May 31, 2019
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Program Executive Office, Assembled Chemical Weapons Alternatives (PEO ACWA)