Call Mr Lunderville at the Governor’s office now….please…802 828-3333
Ask him if the state complied with the January 31 deadline for the Governor’s submittal of his evacuation plan approval to the Federal Emergency Manangement Agency.
Ask if this may effect Vermont Emergency Management from getting the pat on the back from the industry praise group Emergency Management Accreditation Program certification that made the news on 2/4/04.
Last year the Governor said basically,
“I’m new…and I am calling for a top to bottom review of evacuation plans…with lots of community input”
He is not so new anymore and the review is supposedly near done. The local public meetings were ludicrous in that they were group meetings of first responders and the public was barely informed of them.
No public forums were held to learn how the public can be better served.
The largest town in the emergency protective zone, Brattleboro, has deferred approval of the plan for nearly a year claiming the town government wants more education… Doesn’t the public deserve more education also? This education for the public could be in the form of an Independent Safety Assessment.
When the Governor was questioned repeatedly on Switchboard of Vermont Public Radio, he responded that with the new VEM representative in Windham County, Mr. Goldsmith, everything would be taken care of.
Mr. Goldsmith was in the news just a week or two ago as the revisions on the state’s review of evacuation planning is nearing completion. This looks like it could be another state energy plan like what was released as a final draft in early December, only to be called soon after –even though it is called a final draft , it isn’t.
Now lets see if VEM deserves EMAP accreditation? Or does non compliance with federal laws not affect emap certification. How many state emergency plans that emap has looked at have they not given rubber stamp approval to?
“FEMA( Federal Emergency Management Agency) requires each state to annually recertify
emergency response plans for the zones surrounding a nuclear reactor . This means the town or counties within the reactor’s emergency planning zone must approve the plans and submit them to the governor who then forwards his approval in a letter to the federal agency.” From K Casa’s article FEB 1, 2003.
“I can’t stress enough that the only way this is going to be effective is in working closely with communities in the area to see if they feel what is in place is appropriate.” This is a statement by Kerry Sleeper, the man in charge of the Department of Public Safety,
The Department of Public Safety is Vermont’s largest law enforcement agency.
How closely did Mr. Sleeper’s review team work if I saw him in Windham County on the issue once in the past year at a meeting for emergency planners that was somewhat exclusive to the public.
Mr Lunderville didn't return my call yesterday even though I was assured he returns calls promptly. The more people who call simply as citizens the more it gives them the impression that they do not operate in a vacuum impune from public view.
Thank you for all you do.