Schumer Urges State to Support Disaster Preparedness Program in Peekskill

SCHUMER URGES STATE TO SUPPORT DISASTER PREPAREDNESS PROGRAM IN PEEKSKILL

Senator Calls For Plan To Meet The National Guard and Homeland Security Needs

Schumer: This Essential Program Cuts Reaction Time In Case Of Disaster

U.S. Senator Charles E. Schumer today called on Governor George E. Pataki to support the Pre Positioned Equipment Program (PEP), and resist any attempt to downside or relocate resources. Schumer called for a plan that will meet the National Guard and Homeland Security needs. Peekskill, New York is home to one of nine PEP sites, and would react to a disaster in the Hudson Valley, New York City, much of New York State and the entire northeast. The goal of the PEP is to provide first responders across the country with the equipment they need to handle disasters in the critical hours and days before Federal assistance, including the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), can arrive. Firefighters and other first responders strongly support this program as it provides them with the equipment and support staff they so sorely need in the unfortunate event of a disaster.

"This is an important tool for ensuring our nation is prepared in case of disaster, be it terrorist or natural," Schumer said. "The PEP located at Camp Smith in Peekskill, New York, is an essential program for not only the Hudson Valley and New York City, but America at large. Camp Smith is an ideal location, because of its other infrastructure and operations, including military security, National Guard transportation units, and a helicopter landing pad. It also has easy access to the airlift capabilities at Stewart International Airport. We need to develop a plan meets the needs of the National Guard, while ensuring that New York has the required equipment in the case of a disaster."

The building that the PEP program occupies at Camp Smith is slated for demolition by the National Guard, and PEP has been told it must leave the building by September 2006. Officials of the Red Cross in New York City need to expand their emergency equipment storage, and Schumer suggests that the PEP building at Camp Smith, would be a good location for them as well. The Red Cross is looking for 15,000 to 25,000 square feet, and specifically seek space outside New York City. At Camp Smith, the PEP occupies approximately 35,000 square feet, of the building's total 88,000 square feet. The demolition is scheduled in order to make way for construction of a new National Guard building.

In a personal letter to Pataki, Schumer wrote, "While undoubtedly the National Guard wants to proceed with its new structure, perhaps there is another location on Camp Smith's 1,600 acres for it. This would allow the building housing PEP to remain and also expand its use as an emergency preparedness site serving a large part of New York State and New York City. Alternatively, perhaps there is other space at Camp Smith to house PEP and the Red Cross. I urge you to review whether the demolition of the building housing PEP can be halted or delayed, while still ensuring that the needs of the National Guard are met. PEP and other emergency support services that could be located at Camp Smith are, like the National Guard, critically important to the firefighters and other first responders who protect New Yorkers in times of crisis."

Established after Sept. 11, 2001, the PEP program has already demonstrated its effectiveness, delivering seven pods of equipment to first responders after Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf Coast in August 2005. PEP also responded in January 2005 to Graniteville, SC, after a train derailment resulted in a chlorine gas leak that killed nine people and overwhelmed local emergency resources.

Currently, the PEP is operational at four out of eleven sites throughout the country, following budget cuts by the Department of Homeland Security earlier this year. There are reports the FEMA, which now oversees the program, may be reinstating four more sites. The Camp Smith site was not affected by the cutbacks. The PEP equipment includes personal protective devices and clothing, detection equipment for radiological, chemical and biological agents, medical equipment, communication equipment, and other vital supplies. All of these are packaged in "pods", which remain loaded at all times onto large flatbed trucks at each PEP site. The loaded trucks can be put on the road immediately upon notification of a disaster. When operating at full capacity, the program is capable of sending support to any major population area in America within twelve hours. Schumer wrote to DHS Secretary Michael Chertoff in March, urging DHS to retain the program, which had been scheduled for elimination.

http://schumer.senate.gov/SchumerWebsite/pressroom/press_releases/2006/PR185.Disaster%20Preparedness%20Prog.053106.html