Community members gathered with government officials and Blue Grass plant staff in Richmond, Kentucky, to commemorate the destruction of the last declared chemical weapons stockpile in Kentucky and the nation Oct. 11.
“Nearly three decades ago, America made a promise never again to deploy or produce chemical weapons and to destroy our existing stockpiles,” said Mitch McConnell, U.S. Senate Republican Leader, who served as the keynote speaker. “This past July, when Blue Grass Army Depot safely and securely destroyed the final nerve-agent rocket in our arsenal, we made good on that promise.”
“Today, the nation and the American people are safer because the hard-working citizens of the Commonwealth of Kentucky delivered,” said Andy Beshear, governor of Kentucky. “I am so proud of the Kentuckians who worked each and every day right here to better protect this entire country.”
In addition to McConnell and Beshear, the event at the Armed Forces Reserve Center at the depot included Madison County Judge Executive Reagan Taylor, Richmond Mayor Robert Blythe, officials from the Department of Defense, U.S. Army commanders, executives from the Bechtel Parsons Blue Grass contractor team, and Assembled Chemical Weapons Alternatives program leaders. Recognitions were presented to community and workforce members.
Kingston Reif, Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Threat Reduction and Arms Control, presented a U.S. flag to Taylor. The flag had flown over the Pentagon and was presented to the Blue Grass plant team when the plant began operations in 2019. With operations now complete, Reif returned the flag to the community.
Deborah Rosenblum, Assistant Secretary of Defense for Nuclear, Chemical and Biological Defense Programs, read a letter presented to the Blue Grass community from Kamala Harris, Vice President of the United States.
“I extend my most sincere congratulations to all of you for helping the United States achieve a critical milestone—the verified destruction of the last declared chemical weapons stockpile in the world,” she read. “Since 2019, your team has shown the utmost care for the safety of each other, your neighbors in Kentucky, and the environment as you completed this noble mission.”
Nearly 400 people gathered to celebrate this occasion. The 100th Army Band from Ft. Knox, Kentucky, provided music, Eastern Kentucky University Army ROTC presented the colors and the Madison Central High School Choir sang the national anthem.
Blue Grass plant workers destroyed more than 101,000 rockets and projectiles throughout five munition destruction campaigns. A campaign refers to destruction of a particular type of chemical weapon. Between June 2019 and July 2023, when the last GB nerve-agent M55 rocket was destroyed, the Kentucky workers destroyed more than 523 U.S. tons of chemical agent.
