Homeland Security Goes Local
WASHINGTON, Dec. 11, 2002–As part of a monthly drill, a Vermont emergency operations center sends out a notification that a local nuclear power plant has had a major “catastrophe.” There’s only 15 minutes to phone the key people who have been designated to alert the public, and the local Public Safety Answering Point (PSAP), already busy with routine emergencies and 911 calls, does not have the time to relay the information.
If this sounds like something that could never happen in a security-heightened, post-9/11 world, think again. Despite hard work and good intentions, it does.
Recently, Vermont Emergency Management encountered this very situation during a General Emergency-Fast Breaker drill for the Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant, just over the New Hampshire border in Vernon, Vt. During the exercise, the Rockingham, Vt., PSAP failed to notify the Brattleboro, Vt., fire department and police dispatcher about the plant’s mock catastrophe. The plant is the state’s largest power generator, producing more than 30 percent of the energy used by Vermont’s consumers.
According to Duncan Higgins, deputy director for Vermont Emergency Management, the state routinely conducts exercises in preparation for a disaster at the Vermont Yankee plant. Vermont is the only state that conducts the General Emergency-Fast Breaker drill, said Higgins, and over the course of the four years it has been run, this is the first time a major problem has occurred, he said.
“There were some miscommunications because they were very busy in Rockingham,” Lou Stowell, radiological emergency response planner for Vermont Emergency Management, said. “Had this been a real emergency, they would have dumped what they were doing [by rerouting the 911 calls to other area dispatchers] and responded to the emergency.”
Both Stowell and Higgins said that a variety of things are being done to correct the problem, including better organization and additional training for all workers. Higgins, one of two evaluators on site at the time of the problem, said, “Every time we do an exercise, we’re looking for better uses of technology, lapses in training, and there is a process for evaluation and looking for ways to improve.”
Protection of the plant has increased overall since Sept. 11, Rob Williams, spokesman for Vermont Yankee, said.
“We took the initiative to go to the highest security status on Sept. 11,” Williams said, adding that precautions, including increased detection systems and barriers surrounding the plant, have been added. “We’ve increased staffing in the security force and training, and also upgraded their weapons.”
The issue of security at a nuclear power plant, like many other public safety issues, has been magnified after the events of Sept. 11 and recent terror alerts. Consistent safety measures are now a priority more than ever, and with the passage of legislation last month authorizing creation of the Department of Homeland Security, the federal government is attempting to ensure that as many Americans as possible are protected from the threat of both international and domestic terrorism.
The new department will combine 22 existing agencies to guard against terrorism attacks inside the United States, reduce the nation’s exposure to terrorism, reduce damage from terrorism attacks and aid in the recovery from future attacks. Nevertheless, questions remain of how the new department will provide the financing and the protection that New Hampshire and other states need.
Don Bliss, the New Hampshire state fire marshal and director of fire safety and emergency management, praised the Bush administration for the relationship the White House Office of Homeland Security, the predecessor to the new department, established with the state office. Bliss added, though, that the amount of money the states will receive for anti-terrorism programs remains uncertain.
“Many of these very costly initiatives were not able to move forward because Congress is funding the government off of a continuing resolution,” Bliss said. “We just need them to get back in session and pass a budget with funding.” Congress departed this year without completing its budget work.
According to Jim Van Dongen, spokesman for New Hampshire’s Office of Emergency Management, “the agency did not discover terrorism on 9/11.” The turning point for New Hampshire’s emergency management came, he said, in the wake of the Oklahoma City bombing in 1995.
“From an emergency response perspective, terrorism is just another hazard, and the effect is going to be the same on people,” he said.
Van Dongen added that his office uses an “all-hazards approach,” with a single plan spelling out who is responsible for what in case of an emergency, including law enforcement groups, firefighters, and groups such as the Red Cross who provide shelter and food to large groups of people during a crisis.
Bliss said that the “all-hazards approach” has been effective in New Hampshire and he hopes that the federal government will use this same approach in its fight against terrorism. He added that while he doesn’t believe New Hampshire will immediately see the benefits of the new Department of Homeland Security, he thinks the department will help to streamline and simplify communication between the federal government and state and local agencies.
New Hampshire has been successful with its anti-terrorism prevention and training efforts not only because of the all-hazards approach, Bliss said, but also because the state opted not to create a new government agency after Sept. 11 and instead pooled resources to save money and “draw upon the best of existing agencies.”
In addition, Democratic Gov. Jeanne Shaheen established the New Hampshire Commission on Preparedness and Security, which Bliss also heads. Bliss said the group was formed to evaluate New Hampshire’s ability to respond to terrorist attacks and make recommendations on how to better prepare for and deter such attacks.
Under legislation signed by the governor in May and put into effect in July, the commission soon will become a permanent body known as the Advisory Council on Emergency Preparation and Security, said Pamela Walsh, spokeswoman for the governor’s office.
“Governor Shaheen wanted to make sure we had our arms around the issue and a good understanding of all aspects of emergency preparedness,” Bliss said.
During its evaluations, the commission identified several key areas for change, including the need for improved training, equipment and communications for first responders such as firefighters and police officers. As a response to this need, New Hampshire recently received a U.S. Department of Justice grant of $104,704 to purchase air-purifying respirators and splash suits for police officers and emergency medical personnel. Of this money, the Keene Police Department will receive $5,162 for equipment for its officers.
“People in Washington know that the public is concerned about terror and that there’s a value in protecting first responders,” Van Dongen said.
Jack Zeller, the terrorism and intelligence officer for the Keene Police Department, said he believes the Department of Homeland Security will help his department receive necessary protective equipment and information about terror alerts and news.
“Until Homeland Security was set up, it was very different because you were dealing with 20 different agencies,” Zeller said. “People didn’t used to work together, and now things are different.”
New Hampshire also has received an $8.4 million grant from the Department of Health and Human Services for protection of public health and prevention of bioterrorism, Bliss said. The money has been earmarked for projects including increased training in local hospitals, disease surveillance, and laboratory improvements.
On Tuesday, Bliss said, the commission released its smallpox vaccination plan, as mandated by the federal government. The plan is intended to ensure that all New Hampshire government officials and the general public will be safely vaccinated in the face of a possible epidemic.
New Hampshire is also working to protect its drinking water and wastewater against the threat of contamination, said Harry Stewart, director of the water division of New Hampshire’s Department of Environmental Services and a liaison to Bliss’s commission.
“Both in our drinking water programs and in our wastewater programs, we had training courses developed [as part of the New Hampshire Commission on Preparedness and Security’s plan] on prevention and heightened security of those facilities,” Stewart said. Stewart added that the state legislature recently passed legislation allowing the governor to extend increased security measures in the event of a contamination.
While the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has already given New Hampshire funds for water vulnerability studies to protect against both terrorism and natural events in Manchester and Nashua, Stewart said, the agency will also allocate money for vulnerability studies in all New Hampshire communities with populations below 100,000 in early 2003.
New Hampshire’s congressional delegation, which voted unanimously in favor of the homeland security bill this fall, has shown its support for state and local efforts directed at the threat of terrorist attacks. Rep. Charles Bass (R-2nd) says that having one centralized location to apply for grants from the Department of Homeland Security will make the process less difficult for local and state agencies, said Sally Tibbetts, Bass’s spokeswoman.
Bass has made a point of visiting the Seabrook nuclear power plant to ensure that necessary safety procedures and defenses are in place, and he has plans to visit the Vermont Yankee plant in the future, she added.
“Shortly after 9/11 the congressman held a town meeting with the heads of state agencies to speak with constituents about their safety concerns,” Tibbetts said.
Both Bliss and Van Dongen said Sen. Judd Gregg (R-N.H.) has played a large part in ensuring that New Hampshire receives the money and support that it needs. According to Bliss, Gregg was a leader in setting up local and state programs for disaster preparation even before Sept. 11.
Gregg sees the Department of Homeland Security as an essential force in helping not just the federal government but also state and local administrations persist in the fight against terrorism, Jeff Turcotte, his spokesman, said.
“We need an efficient, effective and coordinated arrangement with our government to protect and continue the war on terrorism,” Turcotte said. “We need a process that will take years but will keep people safer, improve port security [and] streamline the training of first responders and the proposals for their needs.”
Van Dongen said he believes it is most important for everyone to work together, from the Department of Homeland Security to local police departments and ordinary citizens.
“This is still a free society, and you don’t want a cop on every corner,” Van Dongen said. “It’s most important to get back to basics, with heightened police awareness and people being more aware of what’s going on around them.”
Published in The Keene Sentinel, in New Hampshire.
