Requiring an evacuation plan for the danger zone around the Umatilla Chemical Depot has been the right move for federal emergency officials.

Now, they need to provide enough money to ensure the plan will work if there's ever a leak at the Army's new chemical weapons incinerator, which could begin operations as soon as this summer.

The depot stores 220,604 munitions and containers filled with 7.4 million pounds of deadly nerve agents and mustard gas, all scheduled for eventual incineration.

Officials from the Chemical Stockpile Emergency Preparedness Program, charged with developing an evacuation program, estimate they'd need about $11 million. So far, the Federal Emergency Management Agency has provided $1.5 million, or about 13 percent of the estimate.

There may be room for making some cuts while retaining a viable plan, but good planning, not budget concerns, must be the driving force.

The costs of safeguarding northeastern Oregon communities are minimal when compared with the nation's overall incineration program. The Army expects to spend about $24 billion burning the deadly stockpile to comply with the Chemical Weapons Convention of 1997.

Regardless of price, emergency preparations don't amount to a government giveaway. The nation has a moral obligation to protect the depot's neighbors from harm, and FEMA is responsible for making sure the obligation is met.

The main plan for protecting the surrounding population remains "sheltering in place," which essentially means using duct tape and plastic sheeting to seal off a safe room.

FEMA wisely pushed for an evacuation plan. It might be the only option for visitors who don't have a safe room handy. And some residents would opt to flee in an emergency no matter how many times they hear that sheltering in place is the safest alternative.

Emergency officials need to be certain that no one will be snarled in a traffic jam while a deadly chemical leak wafts their way.

And that certainty needs to come before the first weapon is destroyed at the incinerator.