Depot emergency budget is set at $5.1 million

This story was published Fri, Feb 12, 1999

By Theresa Goffredo
Herald Oregon bureau

HERMISTON - The Chemical Stockpile Emergency Preparedness Program in Oregon and Washington received a $5.1 million operating budget for the upcoming fiscal year, federal officials announced Thursday.

Oregon received nearly $3.6 million for CSEPP activities in Umatilla and Morrow counties. Washington received nearly $1.5 million for Benton County's emergency preparedness program.

The money is slated for emergency centers in both states.

Money also is dedicated to public awareness programs and materials.

"The key to success in the emergency preparedness business, particularly in a complex program like CSEPP, is continued pursuit of common goals, effective communication and ongoing partnerships between all the various levels of government, business and the public," said David de Courcy, regional director for the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

The program provides emergency planning, public education and warning systems - such as highway reader boards and emergency sirens - to help protect people in the event of a lethal nerve agent leak from the depot eight miles west of Hermiston and four miles south of the Columbia River.

The depot stores 3,717 tons of aging chemical weapons - about 12 percent of the nation's stockpile - which are scheduled to be destroyed by 2005.

In 1985, Congress mandated the destruction of all chemical weapons in the U.S. arsenal.

The Army manages the chemical stockpile nationwide but provides money that is distributed through FEMA to pay for preparedness programs.

CSEPP's total budget from 1989 to 1998 was nearly $31.2 million.

The bulk of that money, $18.4 million or 59 percent, has been spent on radios, protective equipment, sirens, reader boards, operation centers and special air systems to protect school children.

Specifically, some of what the FEMA-funded emergency preparedness program has paid for includes:

Building three county emergency operations centers in Benton, Umatilla and Morrow counties. The Umatilla County center is expected to be complete in March.

Installing overpressurization systems for 11 schools. Overpressurization creates more air inside buildings than out, creating an air flow that keeps out contaminated air.

Erecting 62 warning sirens in both states. And installing 19 electronic highway reader boards in both states.

Providing 11 mobile trailers to decontaminate people who may become exposed to chemicals. And equipping eight area hospitals to treat victims of a chemical accident.

Installing state-of-the art communications systems to assist emergency management officials during an emergency.

 

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