CSEPP officials sweat details as incineration nears
This story was published Thu, Jul 29, 2004
By Jeannine Koranda
Herald Oregon bureau
HERMISTON -- The end is fast approaching, and that was clear Wednesday sitting
through a CSEPP Governing Board meeting at the Hermiston Outreach Office.
Managers and directors from different aspects of the Chemical Stockpile Emergency
Preparedness Program reported on projects and details that were wrapping
up as the start of incineration at the Umatilla Chemical Depot nears.
Meg Capps, Umatilla County emergency manager, reported the 450 megahertz
radio system, which had to be in place before incineration could start, had
been completed.
"The 450 MHz Tactical Communication System is now fully operational for CSEPP
response," she said, reading from a letter signed by Boardman Fire Chief
Mike Roxbury, chairman of the 450 MHz Advisory Board, and sent to the state
CSEPP manager.
"For all intents and purposes, we did it," Capps said.
On Wednesday, agencies such as police and fire departments from Umatilla
and Morrow counties tested the tactical radio system in a communication exercise.
At one point, for five minutes in the exercise, those participating tried
to busy the system by talking simultaneously on assigned channels, said Scott
Hamilton, technical hazardous program specialist for the Federal Emergency
Management Agency's Region 10.
And even with the normal traffic generated by daily dispatch calls, about
65 percent of the system's capacity was still not used, he said. "That's
good news," he said.
The 450 MHz system is a tactical radio system designed to handle large numbers
of people using it at the same time, like what might happen during an emergency
at the depot.
Police and fire departments in Pendleton, Hermiston and Umatilla have switched
to the system, as has as all of Morrow County.
Capps said her department was going to offer more training to the different
departments to ensure people were comfortable using the new system.
Kenneth Murphy, director of Oregon Emergency Management, also presented an
update on the evacuation plan and the Wi-Fi network, neither of which are
required to start incineration. Morrow County is seeking bids to install
traffic light controls, and the survey for the Highland Avenue/Despain Road
portion of the evacuation plan has been completed.
Rodney Boast Jr., CSEPP exercise and training office for FEMA, presented
a report on the area's 2005 budget submitted to the agency. This year the
request was for $11.05 million, up from the previous year's budget of $8.4
million.
The request includes funding for overpressurization maintenance, infrastructure
improvements, sirens and recirculating air filters.
State CSEPP Manager Chris Brown said he had finished the draft of a letter
to go to the Governor's Executive Review Panel stating the area was ready
for the start of incineration at the depot.
On Aug. 13 the Environmental Quality Commission is expected to meet for a
final review of the facility's readiness to start destroying chemical weapons
stored at the Umatilla Chemical Depot.
Although it is possible that a Monday court ruling requiring increased protections
for whistleblowers at the depot be included in the facility's permit could
delay that meeting date, Dennis Murphey, administrator for the Oregon Department
of Environmental Quality's chemical demilitarization program, said that might
not happen.
"We are proceeding at this point in anticipation of being able to proceed
forward," Murphy said.