Anniston Star
May 29, 2003

Many parts of Calhoun are now equipped: Private firm reports most of county has adequate protection

By Nathan Solheim
Star Staff Writer
05-29-2003

Calhoun County Commissioners have received a hint of encouraging news in their pursuit of preparedness money and equipment in case of an accident at Anniston Army Depot's chemical weapons stockpile.

Officials with a private firm studying the situation told the Calhoun County Commission Tuesday that many parts of the county are now adequately protected. They brought the results of their briefing to a training session Wednesday for counties surrounding Anniston Army Depot.

The company, Innovative Emergency Management Inc., is studying the effects of more protective toxicity standards on the county's emergency preparedness efforts.

Those results show that many parts of Calhoun County are now adequately protected in case of an accident, due mainly to the distribution of safety equipment such as protective hoods, air filters and shelter-in-place kits to residents in the pink zone over the past few months.

According to the preliminary results, the pink zone may decrease in size because of the extra preparedness measures brought on by county emergency management officials.

"To us, they will always be pink, but for the analysis, certain steps needed to be taken to provide protection of the people, and the presence of the equipment does that," said EMA Spokesman David Ford.

The development comes at a time when Army officials are preparing the incinerator to begin destroying the 2,200 tons of chemical weapons currently stored at the Anniston Army Depot.

However, at least one area still needs more attention to be adequately prepared.

The area, known as zone A1A, is nearest to the incinerator and includes people living along the road leading to the main entrance of the Westinghouse facility near the Calhoun County landfill.

Officials said in order for A1A to be protected enough to reduce the risk to residents, it will take further study, Ford said.

Innovative Emergency Management, which is based in Baton Rouge, La., has been studying the more protective toxicity standards, known as Acute Exposure Guideline Levels. The guidelines determine how much agent people can be exposed to before they are harmed. AEGLs are also set for other hazardous substances.

Such standards already had been incorporated in the Calhoun County Emergency Management Agency's preparedness measures, but officials wanted to determine the effects of the protective equipment on the overall risk to the community.

Krause Wilson, of IEM, told the commission and EMA officials that preliminary results show that an adjustment in the county's pink zone may have to be made once the final results of the study are in.

"There were several zones that were not adequately protected and the county asked the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the Army for help," Wilson said. "The EMA implemented them, and based on the implementation of the new standards, more zones are adequately protected."

A daylong training session with emergency management officials from the closest counties that would be affected by an accident was held Wednesday.

There, Army, Federal Emergency Management Agency and state emergency management officials briefed local officials on the preliminary results and began discussing how to implement them into each county's emergency preparedness efforts.
Commissioners wanted to see the final results of IEM's study before commenting.

"We're further along in having an accurate picture of what's necessary than we had before," said Commissioner Robert Downing.

The Acute Exposure Guideline Levels were pointed out in a letter by Sen. Richard Shelby, R-Ala., as an area of concern earlier this year. If his concerns weren't met, the letter said, then Shelby couldn't support the chemical weapons incinerator.

The toxicity guidelines also have been a target of scrutiny by county commissioners and chemical weapons watchdog groups, such as the Chemical Weapons Working Group, which says the levels were not stringent enough to protect the general public in the event of an accident.

The original toxicity standards, set by the Environmental Protection Agency, were designed around soldiers in battlefield conditions. Now, thanks to a study conducted by the National Research Committee's Toxicology subcommittee, the standards have been adjusted to reflect those residents considered sensitive to chemical weapons exposure, such as children and the elderly.

A final determination on overall preparedness, however, depends on the final report, which will be given to local officials in early June and to federal officials later that month.

Local emergency management officials look to the results as a vindication of the county's often-contentious effort to secure federal money for emergency management measures in order to prepare for the destruction of chemical weapons at the depot.

"It now looks as though the position the county has taken over the past 10 years has paid off," said Delois Champ, the interim director of the Calhoun County Emergency Management Agency.