Fueled by sharp demands and hard deadlines, the wheels of progress ground slowly forward Wednesday as local, state and federal officials tried to solve Calhoun County's emergency preparedness issues in the event of a chemical weapons accident at the Anniston Army Depot.In the coming weeks, the county's residents could see new protective measures, based on protective hoods and in-home shelter kits.
The familiar snags surrounding a suitable protective measure for the public threatened to derail the process, but it was kept on track by the stern commands of Pat Wakefield, director of the group.
Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld formed the group to address Gov. Don Siegelman's concerns about the community's emergency preparedness.
In April, Siegelman wrote Rumsfeld spelling out 13 points he said need to be addressed for community safety.
The team Rumsfeld formed in response includes officials from the entire spectrum of local, state and national agencies involved in emergency preparedness.
In light of the recent terrorist attacks at the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, Wakefield stressed the importance of resolving the emergency preparedness issues. He could not travel to Anniston because of the sensitive situation in Washington D.C., so the group resorted to a teleconference.
"Our charter has become even more paramount. To that end, we must deliver the goods," Wakefield said. "Each and every one of us has a responsibility to cooperate. Please be cooperative, please look for solutions."
To achieve the goals of this "extraordinarily important obligation and mission," Wakefield occasionally resorted to loud scoldings to blow out the impasses between acrimonious agencies.
The Calhoun County Commission and Emergency Management Agency have often been at odds with state and federal officials over emergency preparedness. Citing a scheduling conflict, Calhoun County officials did not attend the team's first meeting in August.
At that meeting, Wakefield said he wanted the group to complete its work by December. Now, because of the threat of terrorism, he wants to accelerate the process.
Calhoun County Commissioner Eli Henderson asked if Wakefield could guarantee funding to implement all the necessary measures.
"I can't guarantee that, but this is to get the full picture. I will work with the Pentagon and the people on the Hill, and I assure you that we have the interest of the right people in the right places," Wakefield replied.
For every problem, Wakefield asked specifically how much time and money is needed.
The discussions occasionally threatened to grind to a halt as the attention turned to 24-hour staffing for the Calhoun County EMA. The Army and Alabama EMA presented the county with a plan to provide three more workers to the county.
It would require the county taking the responsibility to notify the areas closest to the depot of an accident within five minutes. The depot would notify the county EMA of an accident within four minutes and the county would need to alert the public in one minute.
The county has rejected the plan, as it would have to agree with the protective action recommendation sent out by the Army, which could be shelter-in-place. The county does not accept shelter-in-place as a valid protective action recommendation. Shelter-in-place calls for residents to protect themselves from a toxic plume by sealing off a room using duct tape and plastic. Currently, the county asks that residents evacuate.
"You don't agree on what you're telling them (the public)?" Wakefield asked incredulously. "This shouldn't be too hard."
He told the two sides to solve the problem by Friday.
Discussions turned to the data on the toxicity of the nerve agent. The Environmental Protection Agency is revising that data. It will then undergo review by the National Research Council, an independent board of volunteer academicians who conduct research for Congress.
The county wants another group of scientists to review the data after the National Research Council does. Until then, the county says it cannot plan adequately for an accident at the depot because it doesn't trust the current toxicity data.
The toxicity issue potentially affects many items on the safety checklist. The size of the areas affected by an accident could change along as well as the usefulness of some protective measures.
Wakefield said he would ask the EPA and NRC to speed up the process but pointed out, "These are the standards today
the data is the data."
Because of questions over toxicity, Calhoun County questioned the personal protection standard of one death every 2.5 million years. FEMA uses this number when determining which protective measures to implement.
The standard presents a risk one thousand times less than the likelihood of being hit by a meteor or drowning in the tub, said Dan Civis, director of Chemical Stockpile Emergency Preparedness Program for FEMA.
If the nerve agent's toxicity changes, then the protective measures can be beefed up to meet that standard, but the standard should not be thrown out, said Buddy Holcomb of the Talladega EMA.
Mike Burney, director of the Calhoun County EMA, said he would have to discuss the issue further with the commissioners before agreeing to accept that standard.
Shelter-in-place continued to rear its head throughout the discussions. Lt. Col. Paula Lantzer, the Army's program manager for the CSEP Program, said the protective measure is widely accepted and has been used as recently as this summer during a tunnel fire in Baltimore in which boxcars carrying toxic materials burned.
"We need to recognize that some people can't evacuate," she said.
In one particular Anniston area, it would take residents nearly seven hours to evacuate, Civis said. "People can be exposed to a greater risk if you put people in their car and then on the highway," he said.
But county officials said shelter-in-place is not sufficient They made their pitch for protective hoods, which are essentially gas masks that can be worn over the entire head.
"It's the only solution to the problem, short of moving the stockpile or moving people," Burney said.
Wakefield asked what it would take to select, manufacture and distribute the hoods. Burney said he did not have that information.
Anniston Mayor Chip Howell said he worried that shelter-in-place has been so thoroughly discredited as to be no longer effective. Howell said he would accept the hoods as a partial solution.
"I am concerned that if we do come back with duct tape and plastic, it is lost," he said, adding, "All options should be available as quickly as possible."
To that end, Wakefield said, "What's important is what is available right now for the safety and protection of the community?" What are we doing right now? Let's answer the question."
"Today the only option is evacuation," Burney said, sparking a heated discussion.
Wakefield depicted the pandemonium and likely failure of evacuation, while Burney asked for proof that shelter-in-place kits -namely duct tape and plastic - would work.
When Wakefield again asked what can be done immediately for community protection, Burney said the county could use technical help in planning its protective hood program.
"Get off some of this money to move this project forward," Burney said. Wakefield angrily responded, "I don't hold the money, I don't get the money. The Army gets the money."
Wakefield asked Lt. Col. Lantzer to find an expert to help the county find acceptable protective hoods. "I don't have a lot of patience or time," he added.
Several county commissioners replied, "Write the check."
"Let's find out what the issues are first," Wakefield retorted.
