LOCAL

Thursday, August 19, 2004

Chemical Depot Outreach Office says inquiries increase as start date approaches

By AMYJO BROWN of the East Oregonian
ajbrown@eastoregonian.com


Incinerator neighbors take notice

Outreach Specialist Allison Cornett, right, talks with a Hermiston resident about the shelter-in-place kits that she handed out at the Outreach office Tuesday in Hermiston. The Outreach office has had an increase in the number of visits and phone calls since the approval was given to start the destruction of the chemical munitions at the depot. Staff photo by E.J. Harris



HERMISTON — At this point the communities surrounding the Umatilla Chemical Depot are deemed prepared for the worst. But the public is showing an increased interest in personal preparedness after last week’s announcement that the site will begin burning its stockpile of chemical weapons soon, according to those working in the depot public relations’ offices.

It’s not a dramatic increase, said Steve Meyers, a spokesperson for the U.S. Army’s Outreach Office in downtown Hermiston, but it is noticeable.

“We’re getting more calls and more visits,” he said. “They’ve been continual for the last several days.”

According to Meyers, people are concerned about what may be emitted from the incineration facility on the depot, the plant which will burn the more than 7.4 million pounds of nerve and blister agent the Army has stored in a variety of munitions.

The Army has delayed its startup of incineration operations, which were originally scheduled to begin today. Destruction of the weapons may now begin sometime next week, according to the Army.

In the meantime, residents living near the depot have questions.

“I tell them the system destroys the agent thoroughly, and that the air is cleaned by the pollution abatement system,” Meyers said. “I think they are reassured.”

Cheryl Siegal, spokesperson for Umatilla County’s Chemical Stockpile Emergency Preparedness Program, has also been getting some calls, she said.

“We’ve had about five phone calls from the public Monday and Tuesday,” mostly from people wanting to know what they should do if there is an accident involving the chemical weapons on the depot, she said.

People like Randy Gibson, for instance.

The branch manager for Eagle Freightliners on Westland Road in Hermiston wanted to know what he should do to protect his employees.

“We’re close, right across two lanes of traffic from the depot,” he said. “The employees are kinda concerned about the moving of the weapons, and we don’t have a plan (if an accident were to happen).”

In response to his concerns, a CSEPP employee is scheduled to go to his office Friday and talk over the type of emergency response plan he and his employees should have in place, Siegal said.

Steve Sautter, spokesperson for emergency management in Benton County, Wash., said he, too, has been getting more phone calls. No one is scared, he said, they just have questions about what they need to do if there’s an accident at the depot.

“Folks in this area are keenly aware of the depot and Hanford because they live between the two,” he said. “They watch them closely.”

According to Siegal, the CSEPP offices get about 50 to 70 phone calls a month about the depot and its activities. Interest really began increasing significantly after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on New York City and Washington D.C., she said.

Around 15,777 tone alert radios (the indoor alert notification system) have been distributed to households and businesses near the depot, and more than 17,000 shelter-in-place kits (containing plastic and duct tape) have been picked up by residents. A limited number of protective hoods have gone to senior citizens, people with disabilities, and people who work outside.

Some residents in Irrigon have also received portable air cleaners.

“The saturation is very high,” Siegal said of the residents who have the radios and protective equipment to use in the event of an emergency involving chemical weapons.

According to Census 2000 numbers analyzed by Innovative Emergency Management, a research firm that does risk analysis locally, there are 10,742 households in the Oregon zone classified by the Army as the Immediate Response Zone.

That’s the zone that includes people who live less than nine miles from the depot, the average distance a chemical vapor could travel in one hour under typical weather conditions.


Radios, kits available

Tone alert radios can be ordered, free, by calling 800-307-7708. Shelter-in-place kits can be picked up in Hermiston at the Outreach Office on Main Street or at the city halls in Irrigon, Umatilla, Boardman and Stanfield.