LATEST NEWS
Friday, December 17, 2004
Army visitor says
CSEPP funds secure
By AMYJO BROWN
of the East Oregonian
ajbrown@eastoregonian.com
HERMISTON — Dale Ormond,
deputy assistant secretary of the U.S. Army’s program to eliminate chemical
weapons, came to town Thursday to squelch a rumor.
“I am not here to eliminate the CSEPP program,” he told the Citizens
Advisory Commission at its monthly meeting.
Ormond, who has been in his position for nearly five months, said
he is curious about the funding levels for the program at each of the eight
U.S. Army depot sites around the country storing and destroying the nation’s
supply of chemical weapons.
“As a steward of taxpayer dollars, I am asking the question ‘does
the capability to provide protection change as the stockpiles are destroyed?’”
Ormond said.
CSEPP, the Chemical Stockpile Emergency Preparedness Program, funds
equipment for local emergency responders — such as police, fire and medical
personnel — and specialized positions for emergency management and planning
to prepare for the possibility of an accident involving deadly chemical warfare
at the Umatilla Chemical Depot.
Umatilla and Morrow counties are ranked the second highest in the
federal dollars they have received so far, about $90 million, according to
the General Accounting Office. The Anniston, Ala., site is ranked first,
having received about $259 million.
Ormond said he wants to be sure he can answer his superiors within
the Army and members of Congress if they ask him how the money is being spent,
and if it is being spent wisely.
CAC members strongly opposed the idea that federal dollars could
be reduced in the future as more weapons were destroyed at the depot.
“I understand cost effectiveness,” said Hermiston resident Susan
Jones. “But cost is not the biggest issue here. We don’t need the minimum
amount of resources. Maximum amounts of resources are necessary.”
Committee chairman and Hermiston resident Robert Flournoy said the
risk factor to the community would not diminish until the last of the stockpile
was destroyed.
The meeting held in Hermiston Thursday was Ormond’s first visit to
any of the stockpile sites. He said he intends to go to them all and ask
the same funding questions. He said he has made no decisions on funding levels
and has no agenda to reduce funding yet.
“It’s clearly a controversial issue,” he said, but added, “Umatilla
doesn’t provide a good example of ways to reduce resources. There isn’t a
lot of extra emergency capability here.”
And with weapons destruction at the depot only recently under way,
Ormond said, “I don’t see anything changing in this community any time soon.”