Which is more dire: hurricane or terror?
As security measures often get the nod for new funds in Florida, some worry other programs, such as storm response, will suffer.
By CHUCK MURPHY, Times Staff Writer
© St. Petersburg Times
published June 3, 2002
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Every year as hurricanes approach, Laurie Feagans worries about the generator at Manatee County's evacuation shelter for people with special needs.
Many of the people there use oxygen machines or other medical equipment that relies on electricity. If the power goes out, they could die.
Feagans, Manatee's emergency management chief, would like to buy a new, dependable generator, and she asked the Florida Legislature for $300,000 to pay for it.
Instead, her county is getting just $50,000 for the generator. But it also is getting the latest in high-tech equipment to protect firefighters and deputies from anthrax.
"I'm very concerned about it," said State Rep. Michael Bennett, R-Bradenton, who asked for the money for the generator. "These are hard choices to make. If you spend all your money on bioterrorism and nothing ever happens, we're going to be criticized for taking the money from education and hurricane shelters and other things. But if you don't spend it, and something terrible happens, you're going to be criticized the other way. It's tough."
The events of Sept. 11 have forced governments from Florida to Alaska to make stark choices about which potential catastrophe needs more attention. So far, the fear of biological or nuclear terrorist attack is winning the most new money in Congress and in legislatures nationwide.
Health and Human Services secretary Tommy Thompson soon will announce the award of the largest part of what is expected to be $80-million in federal terrorism-related money for Florida.
That money, combined with funds from other federal agencies, will be spent on biohazardous-materials laboratory upgrades, hospital computer systems, training, food protection and scads of gee-whiz equipment to protect firefighters, police, paramedics and deputies in the event of a terrorist attack.
Along with $13-million in state money -- cash that otherwise could have been spent on other emergency needs like generators -- the money is just the first step in what is expected to be a long period of preparing for terror attacks.
"We came out (of the recent legislative session) with a really good package," said Bonnie Rogers, director of business support at the Florida Department of Law Enforcement and the chair of a regular meeting among state agencies to discuss state and federal terrorism funding.
"The package we brought forward was virtually fully funded."
But that funding came at a cost for people like Feagans, who worries that the generator she leases each year for the special needs shelter might have problems in a severe storm. The gas tank on the leased generator, for example, is not permanently anchored. A county-owned generator could be installed at the Manatee County Technical Center and maintained regularly.
"I wouldn't say that hurricanes are more important than terrorism or terrorism is more important than hurricanes," said Feagans, who could still lose the $50,000 to a veto by the governor. "But I would agree that we have a lot more hurricanes. I'm glad I don't have to make those choices."
Congress has dipped into reserves to send antiterrorism money to the states -- a visible symbol of the priority the federal government has placed on preparing the nation for attacks that seemed impossible before Sept. 11.
Florida, which moved quickly after that day to set up regional security task forces and to coordinate requests for money from state and local agencies, is now considered among the nation's leaders in organizing a response.
Within 10 days of the attacks, more than a thousand experts across the state were charged with assessing the state of Florida's readiness and making suggestions for improvements. Those suggestions were boiled down to 44 recommendations, many of which were paid for in a special session of the Legislature that redirected more than $17-million in state money and anticipated federal funds to immediate training and security.
Steve Lauer was chosen as the state's head of domestic security, and, from an office at FDLE, he began assembling ideas from other state agencies.
What emerged was a clear plan to seek federal and state money for everything from a mobile incinerator to dispose of animals that might be infected by terrorists ($100,000 for one) to the creation of a Handbook for Family Preparedness ($350,000).
By funneling all the requests from various state and county agencies through a central authority, Florida has avoided redundancy and presented a single package to Congress, showing just how much the state planned to spend in cooperation with the federal government.
To one degree or another, every state has taken steps to increase security since Sept. 11. A survey by the nonprofit group Stateline.org found that states expect to spend a total of $4-billion in the next year on antiterrorism measures. They want $3-billion of that to come from the federal government.
Like Florida, several states are already spending their own money.
In Alaska, Gov. Tony Knowles ordered increased security along the Alaskan oil pipeline immediately after Sept. 11 and asked for $40-million in state and federal money for that and other antiterror measures. He's waiting for an answer from Washington, but the state's legislature backs his plan.
Some places, however, are waiting entirely for the feds. The Kansas legislature approved six new jobs to focus on domestic security, but had no money to pay for them. The state is hoping for a federal grant.
Florida, which has already spent the money to create domestic security teams throughout the state, appears to be slightly ahead of some other places in the nation, according to state officials.
"The (Federal Emergency Management Agency) representatives we spoke to want to come down and observe what we are doing here," said Mike DeLorenzo, chief of the Bureau of Preparedness and Response in Florida's Division of Emergency Management. "They want to use Florida as the model for the rest of the nation."
That suits Rep. Bennett fine, but, as the nation moves further beyond Sept. 11 and into the hurricane season that began Saturday, he and many of his colleagues in the Legislature wonder whether they have made all the right choices.
"You know, Israel is the most secure nation on earth and there's an act of terrorism there every day," said Bennett, an electrical contractor by trade. "We have to ask, "How much are the American people willing to take from education and social services for this?' It's a question we were all asking ourselves during the session."
- Information from the New York Times was used in this report. |
