The Army says an accident leaves no time to flee; county officials doubt sheltering in place works.
Among all of the acronyms, legalese and scientific jargon, two very simple words have created one of the most immense emotional debates about Anniston's chemical weapons stockpile and its disposal.The words: Maximum protection.
Above all, public law 99-145 requires the secretary of Defense to provide "maximum protection" to Calhoun County residents when dealing with the deadly cache of chemical weapons at the Anniston Army Depot.
But defining "maximum protection" doesn't come easily in discussions of the community's preparedness in the event of a chemical accident.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency says Calhoun County is ready once a lot more education and a little more infrastructure are provided.
Over the last 12 years, FEMA has spent $118 million statewide on the Chemical Stockpile Emergency Preparedness Program, or CSEPP. The money has purchased new radios, warning sirens, emergency operations centers, and shelters.
The Calhoun County EMA says what's been done isn't good enough. Over the course of the program, the local EMA has directly received $37 million. It wants $472 million more, for more protective measures.
Because the county EMA disagrees with FEMA's recommendations for protecting the community, the local agency has ceased its public information campaign and has refused to fully participate with the Army in emergency drills.
Behind all this interagency wrangling, a secondary, high-stakes fight is going on for $70 million in impact fees that Calhoun County Commissioners want from the federal government as compensation for the presence of the Anniston chemical weapons incinerator.
Last month, Commission Chairman Eli Henderson and incineration opponents testified at a Senate hearing about the Army's chemical weapons demilitarization program in Anniston.
To further their cause on Capitol Hill, the Calhoun County commissioners have retained the services of lobbyist David Springer with a $15,000 retainer and payments of $5,000 a month.
Mike Burney, director of the Calhoun County EMA, says his agency hasn't been politicized by the impact fees issue. If the county commissioners capitalize on his struggles with FEMA, that is their decision, he said.
"These problems won't go away with $70 million in impact fees," he said.
At the center of the debate between the federal and county emergency officials are the so-called "pink zones" areas near the depot, with a population of more than 35,000, that would be susceptible in the event of a chemical accident.
FEMA officials say with a few additional measures the pink zones will have "maximum protection." Above all, FEMA officials say, the community needs education. But the Calhoun County EMA has shut down its information campaigns and has stalled others in the works, FEMA officials say.
In contrast to FEMA's views, Burney said he does not believe the pink zones are close to being secure. As evidence, he points to a recent survey that identified 1,796 residents with special needs and 256 buildings, such as nursing homes, schools and daycare centers, that will require more attention.
Burney said he also doesn't know if the size of the pink zones is accurate they may need to be expanded.
He said he is waiting for revised studies on the toxicity of the nerve agents stored at the depot before notifying the public about the proper course of action in the event of a chemical accident at the depot.
Burney said he can't plan appropriately for emergencies until he obtains those toxicity numbers from the Army. Army officials say the Environmental Protection Agency has posted the studies on the federal registry and will release a final report July 1.
Until the EPA makes the report public, the county EMA says it will not endorse a plan calling for residents to shelter in place in their homes if a chemical accident occurs.
The county EMA instead still stresses countywide evacuation, despite a 1999 study by Integrated Emergency Management that said such an evacuation would be impossible.
The county's steadfast adherence to evacuation has caused consternation among state and federal officials.
Federal and state officials say the local leaders are ignoring the existing accident risk already posed by the stored stockpile and are focusing solely on emergency preparedness for accidents that might occur during incineration of chemical weapons.
FEMA says emergency preparedness requires a "balanced approach" that includes both shelter in place and evacuation, along with 27 collective protection shelters pressurized buildings that would keep potentially contaminated air from getting inside.
The county also needs to buy and distribute the shelter-in-place kits, finish the work on the group shelters, and buy recirculation filters small electric devices that can remove nerve agent from the air, said Dan Civis, FEMA's program manager for CSEPP.
With those measures, Calhoun County will meet the risk assessment of one death every 2.5 million years from a chemical weapons accident, he said.
Even if the toxicity evaluation changes, Civis says, "What we've recommended is probably not going to change much."
But Burney said he can not recommend shelter in place until he knows how toxic a chemical accident could be, and the potential harm to residents.
He wants more overpressurized group shelters.
"If you don't give me any answers, I'll ask for the top protection available," he said. That's the reason for his agency's $472 million request to FEMA.
If the county's stance has put it at odds with FEMA, it has also frustrated the Alabama EMA.
"It's a philosophical difference of opinion, and for this time, we have agreed to disagree," said John Duncan, the state EMA's program manager for CSEPP.
Ideally, he said, overpressurizing every building in the pink zones would be the answer. That would take billions of dollars and tens of years to complete.
"And realistically, there's not an unlimited federal budget," he said.
There also isn't enough time. The Army is scheduled to begin burning the chemical weapons by next spring.
The shelter-in-place plan, and the accompanying preparedness kits containing scissors, duct tape, and rolls of plastic sheeting to be used to cover doors and windows to prevent nerve agent from seeping through, have raised the ire of local politicians and incineration opponents.
FEMA and Army officials say the kits are effective, and point to the use of such materials in industry and in Israel during the Gulf War.
Some officials say the political rhetoric threatens to undermine the public's acceptance of shelter in place as viable protection against nerve agent. The kits have been used as propaganda props against the incineration program in settings such as April's Senate hearings.
While Burney is skeptical of the effectiveness of the shelter-in-place kits, especially while awaiting the new data on nerve agent toxicity, he too worries about their use as a propaganda tool against incineration.
When public officials in Calhoun County decry shelter in place as a means of protection, the message carries across county lines, where other emergency management officials are trying to prepare their own constituents.
"Folks here are getting mixed signals," said Steve Swafford, director of the Cleburne County EMA. "The big initiative right now is to reinforce the public's knowledge about shelter in place. That job has become somewhat harder in the last few months."
Because the Calhoun County EMA has not purchased and distributed the kits or educated the public about them, FEMA has started looking around for other ways to inform the public.
"One recommendation that we've looked into is that we would offer to go door to door to educate people," said Russ Salter, the director of FEMA's Chemical and Radiological Preparedness Division.
Further blocking attempts at public education, Calhoun County refuses to sign a $500,000 state contract for an areawide information campaign.
The state must obtain the signatures of all six participating counties before it can hire a public relations firm and start the education campaign. Calhoun County is the lone holdout.
Burney said he does not want a public information campaign until the county decides how it is going to protect its residents, even if it comes at the expense of the other counties.
"We don't want to add any more confusion to what's already out there," he said.
Calhoun County gave $400,000 of its CSEPP funds back to the state for that campaign, he said.
Based on Burney's recommendation, the County Commission also refused to fully participate the annual emergency exercise with the Army on March 7.
Unlike the previous 10 exercises, the Calhoun County EMA did not drill first responders, such as the police officers and fire fighters who would direct traffic during an evacuation.
Burney said he did not want to confuse the first responders in the event that the emergency plan changes in the future based on the new toxicity figures.
That ignores the possibility of an accident happening sooner, said Lt. Col. Bruce Williams, head of the chemical weapons stockpile and CSEPP at the Anniston Army Depot, who was in charge of the drill.
The county should have participated, Williams said.
"They decided not to maximize an opportunity," he said. "If you're saying 'we will always evacuate,' you know what you're going to do; so, then, train to evacuate."
Within the first 18 months of the incinerator's operation, 98 percent of the risk to the local community will be gone, Williams said.
"(The disposal of the weapons) is the ultimate protective measure," said Duncan of Alabama EMA. "Once it's gone, it's gone."
That's one point over which the parties don't argue.
"We all agree that these chemical weapons need to be destroyed," Burney said.
But the dispute remains when is Calhoun County ready for the burning to begin?
