Hermiston Herald
Opinion
August 27, 2002

Tribes' request for center creates many questions

Guest
Commentary
Dennis Doherty

I value a good debate. Recent news stories have opened up an excellent one
with the articles about expenditure of chemical demilitarization dollars on
the Umatilla Indian Reservation. My questions are: "For What? How much?
Why?"

Understand, first, what the chem demil mission is. It's the safe destruction
of the military's stockpile of chemical agents, 12 percent of which are in
storage at the Umatilla Chemical Depot. one component of the program is
off-post emergency preparedness, commonly known as CSEPP. There is an Oregon
side and a Washington side to CSEPP. On the Oregon side, 40,000 residents
live within the Protective Action Zone (PAZ), which includes the towns of
Boardman, Irrigon, Umatilla, Hermiston, Stanfield and Echo. The reservation
is approximately 40 miles from the depot and 30 miles outside the PAZ.
CSEPP, which dates back to 1988, is funded with federal money. It includes
emergency operation centers at Heppner and Pendleton, the county seats of
Morrow and Umatilla counties; also a warning system, action and response
plans, training and testing, and public education. Most recently, there has
been emphasis on upgrading the communications system so that necessary
contacts can be maintained during times of crisis.

The closer you are to the depot, the greater the risk that you could be
affected by any event that caused an escape of chemical agents. Ironically,
though, funds seemed always to go first to more distant "interests." This
has always bothered the PAZ community.

It came to a head when CBS ran the first "60 Minutes" documentary. The point
was, "Aren't we forgetting who we're supposed to be protecting?"
Things have been better since "60 Minutes." Now, though, the tribes want to
repeat the old history. Despite the reservation's remoteness from the depot,
they want chem demil money to pay for an Emergency Operations Center on the
reservation; for staffing; and for a reservation communications system. This
was neither announced to us, nor discussed with us, but it's happening.

In answer to my question, I am informed that Congress has told Army and
Department of Defense to negotiate with the tribes. So they have done so.
They meet privately in what the tribes call "government" meetings. In this
context, counties and cities aren't "government;" or, if we are, we're
lesser entities. Either way, we're excluded, and the media also, because the
tribes are not subject to public records and open meetings laws. The tribes
seem to demand (and get) special status, special rules and special
consideration.

I want the federal government and the tribes to remember and honor these
realities: The PAZ communities still have many safety-related needs that
remain unfunded; by every right, these remaining unfunded needs should have
funding procedence; the reservation is far distant from the risk area and
there needs to be a strong showing that expenditure of these funds on the
reservation at this time is justified. It is astounding to read that the
tribes need these things because they might have to evacuate their casino or
golf course. That justification is beyond incredible, given that the feds
have for years ignored Hermiston's contention that a second bridge across
the Umatilla River is needed for evacuation purposes.

My questions are legitimate, and are on the minds of many of the people whom
I represent. The tribes may feel that it is politically incorrect for me to
ask these questions. I respectfully disagree.

Dennis D. Doherty is a Umatilla County commissioner. He lives in
Hermiston.