McConnell decries delay in destroying weapons at Blue Grass Depot

11/21/2006

Associated Press

The federal government is accusing Lexington's government of violating the Clean Water Act in a lawsuit that seeks potentially stiff fines against the city.

The suit accuses the Lexington-Fayette Urban County Government of failing to properly operate its treatment and storm sewer systems and in some cases allowing pollution to flow into waterways.

The state joined as a plaintiff in the suit, which asks a judge to order the local government to comply with the Clean Water Act, its regulatory permits and other regulations. The suit, filed Monday in U.S. District Court in Lexington, requests fines for each day the city was allegedly out of compliance.

Chuck Wolfe, a spokesman for the Kentucky Environmental and Public Protection Cabinet, said the lawsuit shouldn't be a surprise to the local government, which has discussed the problems with regulators.

"The local government is attempting to address its long-standing problems related to sanitary sewer overflows and storm water runoff," Wolfe said in a phone interview. "One effect of the lawsuit would be to formalize commitments that are being and will be made to fix the system over there."

Charles Martin, the urban county government's acting commissioner of public works, said Lexington officials had a "constructive" meeting with U.S. Environmental Protection Agency officials last week. Another meeting is planned, he said, but still the legal action wasn't a surprise.

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BARDSTOWN, Ky. — A small plane went down near an airport in central Kentucky on Tuesday and two passengers were taken to a Louisville hospital with injuries, officials said.

The Piper Cherokee came to rest at the Greene County Sport Parachute Center, near the Bardstown/Nelson County Airport at about 12:15 EST, said Brenda Morley, a Nelson County EMS spokeswoman.

"He was trying to land at the airport and didn't make it," Morley said of the pilot.

Federal Aviation Agency spokeswoman Kathleen Bergen said the plane was on a flight from Mayfield to Frankfort when the pilot reported the engine was on fire. Bergen said the pilot was directed to land at Samuel's Field just outside of Bardstown, when it crashed on the edge of the parachute center's property.

Kenn Heismann, who runs the parachute center, said the plane was "pretty beat up" after the crash. No one on the ground was hurt because the center isn't open during the week right now, he said.

Two people were taken by helicopter to University of Louisville Hospital. Their identities and conditions were not immediately available. The plane was registered to Air-Two LLC of Wilmington, Del. Calls to University of Louisville Hospital were not immediately returned.

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INEZ, Ky. (AP) — Mike Duncan was only eight years old when he first got a taste of politics. Going door to door in Scott County, Tenn., he helped his uncle campaign for superintendent of schools.

Clarence Smith wasn't elected back then, but Duncan was hooked.

"At an early age, I was exposed to politics and fascinated by it," said Duncan, at his office in his hometown of Inez, a small Appalachian town in eastern Kentucky.

Nearly 50 years after campaigning for Uncle Clarence, Mike Duncan has moved up the ranks of the GOP and was tapped recently by President Bush as the next chairman of the Republican National Committee.

Bush also selected U.S. Sen. Mel Martinez of Florida as general chairman, to serve as the face of the party, focusing on fundraising, outreach and travel to promote the Republican agenda, while Duncan focuses on the everyday operations at the party's Washington headquarters.

Though Duncan has never run for office, he has campaigned for major Republican players for more than three decades. He's a longtime fundraiser for Sen. Mitch McConnell and has campaigned for Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, Ronald Reagan and George H. Bush.

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FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) — U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell said Tuesday he was disappointed that the Pentagon is "backsliding" on its commitment to destroy a stockpile of chemical weapons in central Kentucky.

"They would subject the people living near the Blue Grass Army Depot to the dangers of chemical weapons until well into the 2020s," McConnell said in a statement. "I am going to continue to lead the fight to ensure that these heinous weapons are disposed of in a safe and timely manner."

Weapons, including mustard gas, sarin and VX, have been stored in bunkers near Richmond for about 60 years and were scheduled to be eliminated by 2012. However, Pentagon spokesman Maj. Stewart Upton said the Department of Defense will not be able to meet that schedule.

"Destroying these weapons safely is not a fast, or simple, process," he said Tuesday in a statement. Original cost estimates for destruction of the weapons didn't take into account a number of unforeseen costs, he said.

Tons of the weapons, which are leftovers from the Cold War, are stored at the Kentucky depot, about 30 miles east of Frankfort. Some of the more deadly materials are stored in underground igloos and surrounded by a double barbed-wire fence and acres of forest.

Community leaders in Madison County also lashed out Tuesday, saying the Pentagon's plan to delay destruction of the weapons jeopardizes public safety.