Anniston Star
October 11, 2002

Army promises $26 million for school overpressurization

By Jason Landers
Star Staff Writer
10-11-2002

Schoolchildren in the Calhoun County area will be protected from a chemical weapons accident with the best technology the federal government can afford, the under secretary of the Army promised members of the state's congressional delegation Thursday.

It will cost the federal government $26 million to give parents of school-age children here peace of mind. And Under Secretary of the Army Les Brownlee made a verbal commitment Thursday that the Army will find the money, said staffers speaking for Congressman Bob Riley and Sen. Richard Shelby. Riley, Shelby and Sen. Jeff Sessions met Thursday with the under secretary in Washington. Brownlee made the commitment during that meeting, said Dan Gans, Riley's chief of staff and press secretary. Gans said Brownlee suggested that money to pay for overpressurizing the schools would come from the budget of the Program Manager for Chemical Demilitarization, which oversees destruction of the nation's aging chemical weapons stockpile.

Attempts to reach Army officials for comment were unsuccessful.

Brownlee's commitment follows a September recommendation by the Federal Emergency
Management Agency that the Army pay to overpressurize 27 schools and day care facilities within a 12-mile radius of the Army's chemical weapons incinerator.

FEMA estimated the cost of overpressurizing these facilities at $26.94 million.
"That's good news," said Calhoun County School Superintendent Jacky Sparks. "That's what we've been asking for and what they promised to start with. It's been a long time coming, but it will provide the measure of safety that our students and teachers and employees need."

Overpressurization of schools is among a laundry list of outstanding issues that county, state and congressional leaders have pressed the federal government to address through its Chemical Stockpile Emergency Preparedness Program. Other outstanding issues include protection of special needs residents and increased preparedness of Anniston Army Depot employees.

"We are encouraged by Under Secretary Brownlee's willingness to work through some of the important issues," said Gans. "This (the money for making schools airtight) is certainly a good first step toward repairing a relationship between the Army and community."
That relationship has been severely strained in recent months as allegations that the Army planned a public relations ambush of local officials surfaced. According to internal e-mails circulating at the Pentagon, some high-ranking Army officials in the chemical demilitarization program suggested using the media to document when local officials, who questioned the community's preparedness, refused to participate in preparedness exercises.

"We feel confident that the personalities involved in that will be reassigned," said Gans.
Relations between the community and FEMA threatened to buckle when the federal government delayed the release of millions of dollars to fund protective hoods for civilians living nearest to the chemical weapons stockpile, and protective suits for area first responders.

The Army said last fall that the money would arrive in less than 30 days. But almost a year passed before it finally slid past the bureaucratic red tape that kept it from reaching the community. Because of that situation, Emergency Management Agency director Mike Burney said he is leery that the money pledged for overpressurizing schools will arrive in a timely manner. "I feel it's another step in the right direction," Burney said. "We are able to resolve another one of the outstanding issues But history has proved it takes a long time for the bureaucratic process to work."