In 1984, the United States Army announced to the public in Richmond, Kentucky that they planned to eliminate the 523.4 U.S. Tons of chemical agent that they had stored at the Blue Grass Army Depot. There was immediate pushback from the community, with citizens in both Richmond and nearby Berea forming community action groups opposing the incineration of chemical weapons in Kentucky. However, community members were beginning to feel that they needed more pull if they were going to join other states/destruction sites in fighting against the U.S. Army to find alternative modes of disposal. In 1990, the Kentucky Environmental Foundation was formed as a state-wide non-profit that could focus on the safe disposal of chemical weapons. In 1991, a short year later, the Chemical Weapons Working Group coalition was formed. It began as a conference of concerned citizens and developed into an "effective grassroots force for change in the Army’s chemical weapons program."

From the KEF Website: "The decision to move forward with safer weapons disposal in Kentucky came in 2002; our chemical weapons will be destroyed in a “closed loop” neutralization and supercritical water oxidation process. In 2006, Craig Williams, then KEF Director, was awarded the prestigious Goldman Environmental Prize for his and the CWWG’s dedication to safe weapons disposal. Through KEF’s Chemical Weapons Working Group, KEF continues to ensure Kentuckians are protected from harmful pollutants during chemical weapons destruction processes. KEF was formed to protect Kentuckians’ health from the chemical exposure; we have since been an integral part of Kentucky’s environmental health and justice movement. For the past 25 years, KEF has participated in many state, regional and national environmental health and justice campaigns and in collaboration with others working to address air, water and soil pollution from both fossil fuels and hazardous waste manufacturing, storage and incineration."

For more infomation, please visit kyenvironmentalfoundation.org