Funding for $40.5 million in emergency preparations may come to Calhoun County in weeks, if not days, according to a Department of Defense memo released Thursday.
Undersecretary of Defense Edward "Pete" Aldridge has directed the Army to find the money in its current budget, rather than wait for a defense appropriations bill to go before Congress.
"My understanding is that the state and the county does not have to wait for any congressional action," said Mike Abrams, spokesman for Anniston's chemical weapons incinerator. "The Army will fund the money in weeks, if not days."
The $40.5 million will come from within the Army's budget, possibly from chemical weapons incinerators still under construction elsewhere. It will be used to fund various emergency preparations in the event of a chemical weapons accident at the Anniston Army Depot's stockpile of chemical weapons or the incinerator set to destroy it.
"This is a huge step forward," said Giles Perkins, an advisor to Gov. Don Siegelman. The governor had asked Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld to lend his help in obtaining more emergency preparations for Calhoun County in an April letter.
In response, Undersecretary Aldridge assembled a group of local state and federal officials to help define Calhoun County's needs. After two months of meetings, the Operational Assessment Team returned to Aldridge with the county's request of $50.3 million.
Last week, the undersecretary agreed to fund $40.5 million for gas masks for residents closest to the depot, 24-hour staffing for the Calhoun County Emergency Management Agency, and planning for residents with special needs as well as new toxicity data for the nerve agent stored at the depot.
"Now we just need to make sure they follow through with their commitments," Perkins said. "We do need to see these items completed."
In a letter to FEMA, the Offices of the Assistant Secretary of the Army for Installations and Environment as well as Acquisitions, Logistics and Technology, Aldridge wrote, "Once available I ask that your organizations work together to ensure these funds are obligated and executed within 30 days."
Calhoun County Commissioners had worried they would have to wait months for the money if a defense appropriations bill were required.
Commission Chairman Randy Wood, who had not seen the letter, was reserved at hearing the news.
"It ain't here until it's here," he said. In the meantime, Wood said, the commission is looking at ways to start educating the public about emergency preparedness.
"There may be something we can do until we can get the funding," he said.
