LEXINGTON, Ky.
The federal government is considering a major reorganization of its program that prepares communities for accidents at the Army's eight chemical weapons stockpiles.
One of the Chemical Stockpile Emergency Preparedness Program's two main players, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, is re-evaluating its involvement in the program, agency officials said Wednesday at CSEPP's annual national conference.
FEMA jointly administers the 15-year-old program with the Army, whose stores of blister and nerve agent are in the process of being destroyed.
"We're not going to change our role right now," said Craig Conklin, the newly appointed director of the FEMA's technological services division. "However, FEMA is having a serious dialogue on how to improve program management with a focus on streamlining financial management practices."
FEMA is best known for emergency planning and response to natural disasters and, after Sept. 11, terrorist attacks. FEMA's role in CSEPP has been a vexed one in recent months, not least because of disputes centered on the portion of the program in Calhoun County. County and Alabama officials have clashed with FEMA over what is necessary to prepare the community for the event of an accident.
In his address Wednesday to about 400 federal, state and local emergency planners, Conklin did not elaborate on FEMA director Joe Allbaugh's comments before a Senate subcommittee in March, in which the director asked that his agency be relieved of the program. Instead, Conklin pledged that no decisions on a shakeup had been made and officials at every level would be consulted before any are made.
Yet, even as the agency reaffirmed its participation in the program for the immediate future, an Army official said contingency planning is under way for three scenarios, one of which is FEMA's complete withdrawal from its CSEPP responsibilities.
Perhaps FEMA's most high-profile actions within the program have been its resistance to demands by officials in Calhoun County, which has the largest population living in the shadow of a stockpile. The agency has resisted local leaders' requests to provide these residents with protective hoods, because of concerns over the safety of the devices, which function like gas masks.
Despite the longstanding conflicts with FEMA over protective equipment, Calhoun County EMA Director Mike Burney said he does not support the departure of FEMA from the program.
"It is evident to me that the Department of Defense and FEMA have jointly failed to provide maximum protection to the citizens of Calhoun County. And it is evident by the comments at the conference that FEMA wants to back out," Burney said. "We do not support this at this point. We cannot afford another delay while management is shifted and management roles are changed. We need the equipment now."
If FEMA were removed from CSEPP, the Army's Larry Skelly said in an interview, a single private contractor could step in to provide support, but would not be allowed to make policy decisions. That contract would be awarded after a "full and open competition."
FEMA is responsible for the protection of the civilian communities surrounding the stockpiles. This includes training and exercise support, development of local planning, and enhancement of state and county emergency operations centers.
FEMA's refusal to provide protective equipment has led to a lawsuit filed by Gov. Don Siegelman and condemnation by the county's congressional delegation. The fallout moved discussion of the issue into the highest echelons of FEMA leadership and, Conklin said, at least in part triggered Allbaugh's interest in shedding the program.
"Some of the issues that have arisen there have put pressure on the director and have put him in an untenable position in regard to budgeting and the funding side," Conklin said Wednesday in an interview with The Anniston Star.
Meanwhile on Wednesday, the governor sent a letter to FEMA director Allbaugh, inviting him to Alabama to work out an agreement that would avoid having a judge decide the issue. A hearing on Siegelman's lawsuit has been set for July 24.
The letter addressed three issues that Siegelman says would end the conflict:
· Level-A protective suits for first responders.
· Protective hoods for residents living near the depot.
· Over-pressurization for all the schools on the original 1996 list.
"It is clear that FEMA has the ability to end this conflict today and move this process forward," Siegelman said in the letter. "I am prepared to take this matter as far as necessary in the courts … but given what I have outlined here, I believe such action can be avoided."
FEMA officials declined comment, saying they had not yet seen the letter.
Upon learning late Wednesday of FEMA's possible reduced or discontinued role in CSEPP, the governor's office expressed its frustrations with the negotiations.
"Hooray!" said Carrie Kurlander, the governor's communications advisor. "We've been trying to work out differences with FEMA with no success, and if FEMA does not believe it can handle the job of ensuring the safety of the residents of Calhoun County, then a move to the Department of Defense would be very favorable."
U.S. Sen. Richard Shelby, R-Tuscaloosa, and Congressman Bob Riley, R-Ashland, were more conservative in their response.
"There has been talk of this the last few days," said Andrea Andrews, Shelby's spokeswoman. "Senator Shelby has requested a briefing from the Army regarding their intentions."
Riley's press secretary, Pepper Bryars, said the congressman will reserve judgment until he's able to talk with FEMA officials directly.
CSEPP is funded by the Army, but off-post policy is in part shaped by FEMA.
If FEMA were to leave the program, the Army's Skelly said, budget requests that are out of the ordinary, such as Calhoun County's requests for the hoods, could be passed on to the Department of Defense and then Congress, which would essentially reduce them to the question of whether the funding is available and whether a plan for their use has been provided.
"We won't say 'no,' but new requirements - not currently in the life-cycle cost estimates - may take time to fund," Skelly said.
He said guidance on questions of public health and safety could be obtained from entities like the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Both Skelly and Conklin said FEMA has yet to decide how it wants to alter its role and that these speculations are the product of informal discussions.
However, Skelly spoke in detail of a "suggested" plan in which FEMA would be removed from the funding stream, allowing the Army to pass on money directly to the state emergency management agencies, which would then parcel it out to the counties based on need.
In this plan, FEMA also would provide an annual assessment of each site.
Cleburne County EMA Director Steve Swafford said he would endorse the plan if it would provide better response capabilities and better ways of educating the public, but he also expressed some reservation.
"At this time, I am not confident that change would give us any greater ability to do these things, but I do fear these changes may create an organizational structure whose middle management would be comprised primarily or entirely of government contractors serving as insulators between the local agencies tasked with protecting their citizens and the Army's Pentagon-based upper management."
