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The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Copyright 2001 Journal Sentinel Inc. (Note: This notice does not apply to those
news items already copyrighted and received through wire services or other
media)
Thursday, October 11, 2001
News
Groups ask Congress for more money to protect water supply
Associated Press
AMERICA AT WAR
Thursday, October 11, 2001
Washington -- Worries about terrorist attacks against the nation's
reservoirs, dams and power and chemical plants have government and
industry clamoring for billions of dollars in new aid from Congress.
Lawmakers were told Wednesday the FBI had found no credible
threats to any of those facilities. But Mike Parker, administrator
for civil projects for the Army Corps of Engineers, replied that "the
answer can only be a reluctant, sobering yes" to the question posed
by the hearing on whether America's water resources were at risk.
The Association of Metropolitan Water Agencies, whose members
supply about 160 million people, told the House Transportation and
Infrastructure subcommittee on water resources and environment that
Congress should spend up to $5 billion to protect drinking water and
wastewater plants.
The group also advised giving the Environmental Protection Agency
$155 million more -- a 62-fold increase -- for security planning.
"We now realize that we will have to plan for the unimaginable,"
said Patrick Karney, Cincinnati's sewer director and spokesman for
the Association of Metropolitan Sewerage Agencies.
Major worries include concern that an explosion at a sewage plant
along a river could contaminate the drinking water of millions
downstream or that the destruction of major dams could flood cities.
A bipartisan group of 11 senators on the Environment and Public
Works Committee sent Senate leaders a letter Tuesday proposing the $5
billion among other billions of dollars in spending for security and
economic reasons.
Federal officials told Congress that they already are boosting
security patrols, restricting access to certain areas and setting up
early warning systems.
Despite the potential for harm, the FBI and intelligence sources
have turned up "no specific credible threats to major waterways or
distribution networks at this time," said Ronald L. Dick, director of
the FBI's National Infrastructure Protection Center.
The House panel's chairman, Rep. John Duncan (R-Tenn.), said he
hopes to prod cities and municipal service providers to look more
seriously at some of their potential vulnerabilities. But he
cautioned that Congress must slow the stampede of agencies trying to
get more funding for security.