The Alabama Emergency Management Agency said it will not participate in an August exercise for responders to a chemical weapons disaster, making it highly unlikely that the community will have a drill before the Army begins to burn the weapons in the fall.The exercise had been tentatively set for Aug. 28 after disputes with the Federal Emergency Management Agency scuttled the original exercise date in March.
Alabama EMA Director Lee Helms said Friday he had never approved the new date and that there is no point in practicing because of lingering preparedness issues.
"I did not agree to any exercise," Helms said. "We're not going to agree to that if we're not ready to exercise our total plan. There's no use in doing this at this time."
The exercise, which allows first responders and emergency management and Army personnel to simulate a release of agent, has been caught up in the long-running controversy between FEMA and the Calhoun County government over what is necessary to protect residents near the depot.
For months, FEMA has held on to more than $7 million in funding that would pay for protective respiratory hoods for residents and protective suits for emergency responders.
A spokesman for the Calhoun County Emergency Management Agency said the agency will follow the state's lead.
"We've said we'd participate if we received the funding in a timely manner," said the spokesman, Brian Lazenby. "And that hasn't happened.
"We appreciate the importance of the exercise," he said, "but we don't think it's feasible to exercise at this point."
FEMA spokesman Michael Widomski said the exercise has not been cancelled. Nevertheless, there is no indication that it could go on without the participation of the state or the county that contains the Anniston Army Depot's stockpile of nerve and blister agent.
Writing to an Alabama EMA official in an e-mail obtained by The Star, FEMA official Terry Madden said Aug. 28 was the only date that worked for the Army, federal evaluators and the contractor.
"We have tried to comply with the State's wishes for a late August timeframe and I have no choice but to recommend that the (2002 exercise) be cancelled due to the inability of the State and Calhoun County to play in the exercise,"
Madden wrote in a message dated Friday.
Other counties have found ways to practice their response outside the regular exercise.
"We'll be drilling on (August 28)," said Cleburne County EMA Director Steve Swafford. "If we don't have a community event, we'll have local drills. We can do this without the assistance of other counties and entities. It doesn't pose a problem for us."
In February, the Talladega County EMA drilled responders on its own, according to Susan Cooper, an official at the agency.
Gov. Don Siegelman is seeking an injunction against the Army's incinerator in an effort to obtain the protective hoods and suits and a number of other measures demanded by the county. A hearing in the case is scheduled for July 24.
The governor's press secretary said the administration supports the Alabama EMA's move based on FEMA's failure to provide the funding.
"We would hope that the federal government isn't playing tit for tat," said spokeswoman Carrie Kurlander. "We're waiting on them to make good on a funding promise. Until it's resolved, it's not productive to have the exercises."
The Army plans to begin testing the incinerator on nerve agent in September.
