 |
|
|
|
|
Monday, December 17, 2001
Chemical Stockpiles Raise New Worries
By Kathleen Murphy, Staff Writer
|
|
U.S. homeland security worries following the September 11 attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon have added urgency to concerns about chemical weapons stockpiles in eight states.
Depots are scheduled to be destroyed this decade under congressional mandate in Oregon, Utah, Indiana, Maryland, Kentucky, Alabama, Arkansas and Colorado. Another storage site is located at Johnston Atoll in the Pacific Ocean southwest of Hawaii.
Since Sept. 11, the Federal Aviation Administration has restricted flight zones over the facilities, and military personnel have defended the storage sites. State officials are reacting to concerns that the depots are high-risk terrorist targets.
At the facilities, dozens of igloo-shaped, turf-covered mounds of reinforced concrete, about 80 feet long and 20 feet high, contain 31,279 tons of agent such as mustard and sarin.
Last month, Arkansas emergency officials removed from the Internet a map, evacuation routes, training schedules and other details about the stockpile in that state at the request of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
Such information is considered a security risk now, but before Sept. 11 the Defense Department had said declassified information on the stockpiles underscored the U.S. commitment to eliminating chemical weapons worldwide. With the end of the Cold War, the Defense Department has said the stockpile is no longer needed.
The stockpiles and controversial chemical disposal methods have always concerned people living nearby. Long-running political battles continue over how to pay for protecting citizens in the event of a release of chemical agents. Besides seeking funding for gas masks, some communities near the sites have also sought impact fees from the federal government.
If an airplane struck the bunkers of chemical weapons or the incinerators built to destroy them, the release of chemical agents could be catastrophic.
Residents likely would have to "shelter-in-place," or close themselves inside an interior room, and seal doors and windows with duct tape and plastic until an all-clear emergency siren sounds. Outrunning the plume in many communities wouldn't be feasible unless road networks were expanded.
A federal program called the Chemical Stockpile Emergency Preparedness Program, or CSEPP, coordinates state and federal readiness for a chemical disaster. Through CSEPP, states have received outdoor warning sirens, hundreds of protective suits, and thousands of indoor tone alert radios for homes and businesses.
Because needs and proximity to the depots differ, Illinois has received $6 million while Alabama has received $108 million since states first got CSEPP funding in 1989.
As of August, only Maryland, Utah, and Washington were fully prepared with warning sirens, protective equipment, and response plans, according to the General Accounting Office. Alabama, Indiana, and Kentucky were lagging in preparedness, the GAO said.
Colorado and Kentucky have resisted the incineration of the chemicals and likely will miss a federal disposal deadline of 2007.
"The reason we're not going to meet the deadline is that the public doesn't like the idea of incineration, so we're trying to pursue methods that would be more acceptable," said Polly White, spokeswoman for the Colorado Office of Emergency Management.
A coalition of U.S. senators from Maryland, Utah, Kentucky, Arkansas, and Indiana says the events of Sept. 11 should prompt speedy action.
"These facilities represent low probability, high risk targets," said U.S. Sen. Evan Bayh, D-Ind., in a statement. "But we must be prepared for every threat. So the most prudent thing to do is to take the threat entirely off the table by safely destroying these chemical agents as quickly as possible." ![]()
|
Comment on this story in the space below by registering with Stateline.org.
|
|
|
|
|
| Issues: |
Homeland Security
|
|
There are no comments yet, would you like to add one?
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 | Stateline.org has put together a list of state public policy resources organized by issue. Here, you will find useful links to essential information from government, academia, and think tanks. If you have a link to add, please email us.
|
| |
|
|
Powered by