By Alisha Ashby, Jenna Roberts, Peter Riggs
Title: Kentucky Environmental Foundation Records, 1980-2016
Predominant Dates:1986-2009
Extent: 7.92 Cubic Feet
Date Acquired: 04/14/2017
Subjects: Blue Grass Army Depot (Ky.), Chemical weapons disposal., Environmentalism--Kentucky., Environmental protection., Madison County (Ky.), Nerve gases.
Languages: English
The Kentucky Environmental Foundation (KEF) Records documents the community efforts of Madison County residents to encourage the safe disposal of chemical weapons in Madison County. This collection is largely yearly progress reports, chemical weapon risk reports prepared by the federal government, as well as reports prepared by private organizations regarding the safe disposal of chemical weapons. The collection also contains the meeting minutes, agendas, presentations, and advertisements for numerous citizen lead activist groups such as the ACWA, CWWG, and the CAC. Correspondence between community leaders and the federal government, newspapers and other media detailing the effort and risk of the disposal of chemical weapons can also be found in this collection. Finally, this collection contains various newsclippings and publicity materials related to the disposal of chemical weapons across the nine sites in the United States, centered on the work of CWWG and Kentucky disposal.
For more information, please see collections under the related subject headings.
List of Common Acronyms:
KEF - Kentucky Environmental Foundation CWWG- Chemical Weapons Working Group BGCAPP/BGAD - Blue Grass Chemical Agent-Destruction Pilot Plant/Blue Grass Army Depot PMCD - Program Manager for Chemical Demilitarization CSEPP - Chemical Stockpile Emergency Preparedness Program
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
Blue Grass Army Depot (Ky.)
Chemical weapons disposal.
Environmentalism--Kentucky.
Environmental protection.
Madison County (Ky.)
Nerve gases.
Repository: Eastern Kentucky University - Special Collections and Archives
Acquisition Source: Williams, Craig
Related Materials: Nerve: How a Small Kentucky Town Led the Fight to Safely Dismantle The World’s Chemical Weapons For more information please see https://vimeo.com/254920643.
