Hermiston Herald
December 11, 2001

CSEPP funds could be in jeopardy

By Frank Lockwood
Staff writer

HERMISTON - A Umatilla County Commissioner has questioned the Department of Defense decision to allow Alabama to dip into the CSEPP funding outside normal channels.

Feasting for some counties could mean leanness for other CSEPP (Chemical Stockpile Emergency Preparedness Program) sites. The Department of Defense approved $40.2 million in additional CSEPP funds before other states had the chance to question the implications, Umatilla County Commissioner Dennis Doherty said. The Hermiston Herald spoke with Doherty Monday, following his return from a trip to Washington, D.C. last week.

The Department of Defense dealt directly with Alabama, bypassing FEMA and
the Army, Doherty said. "Does this mean they have changed the rules?" Doherty asked.

Alabama insisted on a list of 18 items the counties demanded before they agreed to accept the Army's own list, he said. Among other things, the counties wanted 24-hour staffing at their emergency operations center and they wanted interchange work done on one of their highways, Doherty said. Assistant Secretary of Defense Peter Aldridge agreed with Alabama counties to fund projects worth more than $40 million without going through the Army, FEMA, and CSEPP, he said. To accomplish that, Alabama counties worked with the Alabama congressional delegation, and a letter was written to the president, Doherty said.

Alabama's windfall led managers at other depot sites around the country to speculate that word may have come down "from the top," asking Aldridge to take care of the Alabama's situation. Whether that is the case or not, Doherty said the DOD decision raised immediate concerns over where that money would come from, because money spent at any one site could affect the money available for all the other sites.

The Oregon's CSEPP budget request for the Umatilla Chemical Depot was $5.2 million, and $4.2 million was approved. Oregon CSEPP has already purchased $850,000 in tactical radio system equipment, and that system is funded for $7.2 million, but no one knows if that will be enough. FEMA had assured the counties here that they would be supportive if the $7.2 million were not enough to finish the job, Doherty said. But if FEMA's funding changed, Doherty said, he wants assurances from FEMA that the deal still holds.

"By freezing out the FEMA people and the Army people that we usually deal with to develop our budget, not just Umatilla County but the other sites, this meant that these people never had the chance to be in the conversation with Assistant Secretary Aldridge, to tell him, 'Mr. Assistant Secretary, this could affect our ability to keep the commitment that we have made to these other sites, especially if you want to take that $45 million out of the fund that we were expecting to be able to use to keep these commitments that we have made to Umatilla, and Arkansas, etcetera.' "

Doherty said changing the rules for Alabama could cause a rush among other states to bypass the established processes. "Why work through the system when Alabama has done a heck of a lot better by circumventing the usual channels and the rules and the procedures, making it a political issue," he asked. "The people that we usually have to work with weren't ever involved in that process. They were frozen out. They never had the chance to say, 'Mr. Aldridge, we are worried.'"

Even the Army was kept out of the loop, he said. "I don't want the Army to think I blame them for this. This wasn't an Army decision. It was a Department of Defense decision."