RICHMOND, Ky. – When the Meeker family moved to Richmond six years ago, they received a housewarming gift of duct tape, plastic sheeting and scissors.
That's because the Meekers live a half mile from the Blue Grass Army Depot (search) in Kentucky, where 500 tons of chemical weapons are stored.
The mustard, VX and GB nerve agents found there are among the leftovers from the Cold War kept at eight chemical weapons storage sites in the United States.
On-site demolition is under way at six locations, although the Blue Grass facility and one in Pueblo, Colo., have yet to be dismantled. That wait may be prolonged, because the Pentagon has pulled the funding.
A congressional source told FOX News that cost overruns at the other six sites have become a problem. For example, getting rid of the chemical weapons at the Newport, Ind., site is running over budget by $300,000 a day.
The funds set aside to clean up Blue Grass and Pueblo have been shifted to the other six sites, angering residents near the Kentucky and Colorado facilities.
"They're old weapons. They're deteriorating. They need to be gotten rid of both for a safety matter and we have an international obligation under a treaty to get rid of them," said Craig Williams of the Chemical Weapons Working Group (search).
The Chemical Weapons Convention Treaty (search), signed by the United States eight years ago, sets a 2012 deadline for the destruction of all chemical weapons.
"Budgetary constraints have some people concerned" about that deadline, a Defense Department official said. The military is now looking into shipping the material to the other six sites, even though it is against the law to transport them from state to state.
Meanwhile, the Meekers and others around Richmond wait — with duct tape, plastic sheeting and scissors at the ready.
Click on the video box above to watch a complete report by FOX News' Steve Brown.
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