7 chemical storage states unprepared

This story was published Thu, Aug 16, 2001

By The Associated Press

WASHINGTON - Hundreds of thousands of people who live near sites where the Army stores deadly chemicals are potentially at risk from a spill or other emergency because of a lack of protections.

A study by the General Accounting Office found communities in seven states have not met critical emergency preparedness milestones and that three of those states - Kentucky, Alabama and Indiana - still have a long way to go.

"There should be no doubt after this report that we're not where we should be and we have a tremendous amount of work to get to that point," said Rep. Bob Riley, R-Ala.

The Army has stockpiled about 30,000 tons of deadly chemicals at eight sites around the country. Two stockpiles are near state borders, meaning communities in 10 states could be affected by an emergency.

The Umatilla Chemical Depot, seven miles west of Hermiston, stores 220,604 munitions and containers filled with 7.4 million pounds of deadly nerve and mustard agents. The Army plans to begin burning the weapons in an incinerator in October 2001.

Nationwide, the chemicals are to be destroyed by 2007 as part of an international chemical weapons treaty, although an internal Army memo made public last spring said the program was as much as 11 years behind schedule.

The Army created the Chemical Stockpile Emergency Preparedness Program in 1988 to work with the Federal Emergency Management Agency and state and local governments to come up with plans to protect the nearly 1 million people living near the sites. The goal for implementation of the plans was 1998, but none of the states met it.

Last year a small drop of the deadly nerve agent sarin leaked from a smokestack at the chemical storage and incineration facility in Tooele, Utah. When inhaled, sarin constricts the lungs and can halt breathing. Though no one was injured, the incident prompted members of Congress to ask the GAO to update a 1997 report on emergency preparedness at the sites.

The latest report found progress has been made. Utah, Maryland and Washington were deemed fully prepared for an emergency. Arkansas, Colorado, Illinois and Oregon fell just short of compliance. Since the GAO report was completed, Colorado has finished its final emergency preparations, said Dan Civis, chief of the army program.

"I believe these communities are much better prepared to handle emergency response than they were 10 years ago," he said, adding, "I believe there's still room for improvement."

Alabama, for example, has not settled on an emergency response plan and has not done enough to educate the public, the report said.

Alabama's lack of preparation comes despite twice as many federal dollars being spent there than any other state. The program has spent nearly $108 million there, compared to less than $50 million in Oregon and Utah and about $35 million in Kentucky.

 

Copyright 2002 Tri-City Herald. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.