Emergency management officials have rescheduled a postponed exercise to prepare responders for a chemical weapons emergency at the Anniston Army Depot.
Originally planned for March, the six-county exercise was cancelled because of disputes between Calhoun County officials and the federal government. The exercise, likely the last before the Army begins incinerating nerve agent at the depot, is now set for Aug. 28.
The decision was made Wednesday at a meeting of federal, state and local emergency planners.
Much uncertainty hangs over the new date, as the dispute that caused the postponement in the first place still simmers. County officials await more than $7 million in federal funding for protective equipment.
The county and state EMAs bowed out of the March exercise, saying that because the federal government had not provided funding for the equipment there was nothing new to practice.
County officials disagree with their federal counterparts over restrictions on a proposed program to distribute protective respiratory hoods to residents near the depot. The funding in question also covers top-shelf protective suits for police officers, firefighters and other first responders.
Neither FEMA nor county EMA officials returned phone calls Thursday seeking comment.
As it is now planned, the August exercise will see limited participation by the Army. The Army will support the exercise electronically and will not send its responders into the field, a spokeswoman said.
"It's not intended to be a roadblock," said Cathy Coleman. "We had already spent our money and training at the March exercise, which we had to do because of the way the evaluators were scheduled."
In place of a full-scale event, the Army and local hospitals ran a scaled-down simulation in March while the county and state EMAs sat it out. That performance will be graded by observers from other chemical weapons stockpile sites.
John Duncan of the Alabama EMA said the August date could be subject to change if the incinerator's timeline changes. The Army now plans to begin testing the facility on nerve agent on Sept. 8.
"If the burn date slips then we might allow the exercise date to slip," Duncan said. "The later we do it the better we'll have a chance to evaluate the planning that's been done."
