Bipartisan national defense legislation awaiting President Trump's signature authorizes more than $158 million for military construction projects and other defense priorities in Kentucky.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell's office said in a release on Wednesday the senator helped secure authorization for the projects as part of the $716 billion John S. McCain 2019 National Defense Authorization Act.
Several of those projects involve Fort Campbell as well as an authorization for the production and use of natural gas at Fort Knox.
Here is the list, per McConnell’s office:
- $26M for a Digital Air/Ground Integration Range at Fort Knox
- $32M for a Vehicle Maintenance Shop at Fort Campbell
- $18M for a Microgrid and Power Plant at Fort Campbell
- $62.6M for the Fort Campbell Middle School
- $5.4M for a Special Operations Forces Logistics Support Operations Facility at Fort Campbell
- $9.1M for a Special Operations Forces Air/Ground Integration Urban Live Fire Range at Fort Campbell
- $5.1M for a Special Operations Forces Multi-Use Helicopter Training Facility at Fort Campbell
- $993.8M for Department of Defense chemical agents and munitions destruction activities, which will support chemical demilitarization efforts at the Blue Grass Army Depot.
"At Fort Campbell, members of the 101st Airborne Division and a number of special operations units will benefit from the authorization of new investments in their training facilities,” McConnell said in the release.
“At Fort Knox, the Army’s Human Resources Command and Recruiting Command will receive the support they need to modernize officer personnel management, and the post will receive much-needed certainty and authority for its innovative energy savings program. At the Bluegrass Army Depot, critical work to support chemical weapon demilitarization will continue because this bill authorizes the resources necessary to conduct safe operations,” he said.
Christian County Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Kelli Pendleton said in the release, “We at the Christian County Chamber of Commerce applaud passage of this critical defense authorization legislation. This bill authorizes funding for key projects at Fort Campbell while supporting the base’s valuable servicemembers and their families, and we thank Senator McConnell for his leadership in passing the legislation.”
