JPA and community leaders discuss possible research center

With recent news about poor air quality after the collapse world trade center, anthrax scares, destruction of chemical weapons, and general worries related to the war on terrorism, there has been a lot of talk about installing and using sensors and monitors to assure our health and safety. But how can we be know how well these monitors are working?

That is a question that a group that met recently at McClellan would like to tackle.

Representatives from the Joint Powers Authority, Jacksonville State University and other community leaders concluded three days of informational meetings last week to discuss bringing a national research center to McClellan.

Pete Conroy, JSU’s Director of the Environmental Policy and Information Center, said the center would research and develop various technologies for sensors and monitors. The center could set standards for sensors and monitors used in detecting air and water quality hazards and help those who first respond to an emergency or disaster know what environmental danger exists, said Conroy.

For many existing technologies, the only way a customer knows whether it works is through the salesman’s word. The McClellan research center would set protocol standards and provide a seal of approval.

Angelos Angelou, an economic development consultant from Austin, Texas, advised the group that included representatives from federal agencies and national law enforcement groups, that focusing the center’s mission would help secure funding. “You need to articulate this plan in terms of a major challenge,” he said.

Anniston Mayor Chip Howell said the city would be well positioned to bring a preparedness center to town. “I don’t know of any other community in the nation that’s more prepared for just about anything than we are.”

Pete Cosgrove, project manager for the National Law Enforcement and Corrections Technology Center in Charleston, S.C., said the center could possibly find ways to integrate technologies among various agencies.

“I’ve seen a tremendous concern among law enforcement over the need to assess environmental situations,” he said. “Often, your police and fire are the first responders, and they don’t know what they’re getting into.”

Several at the meeting said the work that could be done at the research center would have helped various federal agencies in their work immediately after Hurricane Katrina last year and the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

“After 9/11, the easiest way to get funding was to link it to homeland security,” Cosgrove said. “After Katrina, filling needs it exposed is the fashionable way to get money. Who in Congress is going to vote against disaster relief?”

Pam Tucker, with the toxic substance registry at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said those assisting in Katrina’s aftermath needed additional technologies, such as geographic mapping to find environmental risks, because landmarks were washed away.

John Bosch, with the Environmental Protection Agency, also said such a center would help Anniston improve its environmental image.

“I think to the city leaders a good environmental example would be of value,” he said.

Conroy said he would like to convene more meetings in October and perhaps have a funding proposal ready by January or February.

(taken from original article by Steve Ivey, Anniston Star, 9/02/2006)

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