LOCAL
Thursday, February 19, 2004
Board wants radio
system set before incineration begins
By AMYJO BROWN
of the East Oregonian
ajbrown@eastoregonian.com
HERMISTON — Incineration
should not start before an emergency radio system is in place for first responders,
the governing board of the Chemical Stockpile Emergency Preparedness Program
(CSEPP) agreed Wednesday.
The board voted to endorse the start-up of agent disposal operations
at the Chemical Weapons Depot with the caveat that both the 450 megahertz
system is “constructed, tested and operational” and that necessary approvals
are obtained from the Oregon Environmental Quality Commission and the Federal
oversight group.
To formally endorse the incineration process, letters of appreciation
will be sent to the governor and several state representatives, thanking
them for the additional $3 million CSEPP was provided recently. The conditions
of their endorsement will be included in the letters.
Concerns over the letters’ wording arose at the Jan. 14 meeting of
the CSEPP governing board. A number of board members expressed worries that
emergency personnel might not have the equipment necessary to respond if
anything were to go wrong with the start up of the depot’s incineration process.
“A makeshift system could break,” argued Bob Flourney, citizen at-large
on the board.
The chairman, John Wenholz, added that the position of CSEPP has
always been to have the 450 megahertz system in place before incineration.
However, Dennis Doherty, Umatilla County commissioner, said he wanted
to be cautious about adding more to the checklist for incineration approval.
He said he believed that the old communication system could operate safely
until the new one is up and running.
“It is time to move forward now that we have our funding,” Doherty
said at the Jan. 14 meeting. However, the majority of the board opposed the
endorsement until the conditions were included.
After a brief discussion at Wednesday’s meeting that refined the
wording, the endorsement letters were unanimously approved.