Maine to request new security funds Officials say $31 million needed for this budget year to cover increased costs

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AUGUSTA – Maine needs $31 million to pay for increased security and other anti-terrorism efforts this budget year, and state officials estimated the costs for continued homeland security in the state to be $20 million a year.

“States and localities are being asked to shoulder a significant burden in terms of national defense, without any resources,” Gov. Angus King said Friday.

King said Maine is not alone in facing substantial needs at both the state and local level and that other states are facing serious budgetary demands as well. He said most states also are facing the “double whammy” of the unexpected need for homeland security at the same time state revenues are falling below estimates.

“Clearly the states and the localities want to respond,” he said, “but there has to be some sharing of the costs with the federal government. Traditionally, throughout our history, to provide for the national defense is a responsibility of the federal government.”

At the request of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, Maine officials have put together preliminary estimates of what the state needs in both one-time costs and the price tag for ongoing security needs.

“We have determined the overall need in the first year is $31 million,” Art Cleaves, director of the Maine Emergency Management Agency said Friday. “That’s based on what we got from different agencies and from moving up the timetable on several programs we already had under way.”

The largest request in the package is $11 million for the National Guard Bureau to pay for increased security equipment at its facilities, as well as the ongoing costs of additional guards at armories and bases such as the Maine Air National Guard Base in Bangor. Congress already has appropriated some of that money in the $40 billion measure approved a few weeks after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

“We know how much it costs to provide the guards we need at these facilities 24/7,” he said, “and we have to plan that these costs are going to [continue} out into the future.”

Concrete barriers already have been placed around armories and other facilities like Camp Keyes in Augusta that houses the headquarters of the Maine National Guard. Other security steps also have been taken that are less apparent, and Guard officials decline to discuss them in any detail, but all are additional expenses outside the existing budget.

And in this new type of war, it’s not just the military that needs money for defense. The Bureau of Health has requested $8 million, with about $1 million of that for an expansion of the state health lab to improve its ability to test for a wide range of chemical and biological substances that could be used by terrorists as weapons.

“While we can test for a wide range of possible biological agents,” Dr. Dora Mills, director of the Bureau of Health said Friday, “there are some we do not have the capability to test for, and we need to have that capability.”

She said the same is true for chemical agents that could be used, including nerve gas. In addition to new equipment and the facilities to house that equipment, the state also needs more lab technicians and epidemiologists.

“We have been able to hire extra microbiologists to handle the backlog caused by the anthrax scares,” she said, “but that was only a temporary solution.”

That quick fix has cost more than $250,000 and the tab is still growing. Far more expensive will be hiring the additional technical staff, and doctors, that will be needed on an ongoing basis, Mills said.

Cleaves said a significant amount of the funds will be to help train and equip those likely to first respond to the scene of a potential terrorist attack: local police, firefighters and emergency medical technicians.

“We have a good start in developing the regional hazmat [hazardous materials] teams with the [Department of Justice] approval of our plans,” Cleaves said, “but we still have a lot to do.”

MEMA is looking for additional funds to complete the training and equipping of eight hazardous materials teams to respond to possible terrorist attacks using chemical or biological weapons. With last week’s justice department approval, the state can use a $1.4 million grant to buy equipment and supplies for the teams. To fully equip and train the teams will cost at least $4 million.

“We generally know where we want them geographically,” Cleaves said, “but we have to work out the details with those local agencies that are volunteering to establish them.”

In addition to the eight regional teams, the National Guard has the Waterville-based 22-man Weapons of Mass Destruction team that is taking its final certification tests this week. The unit was created in January 2000 and has been training intensively to handle not only chemical and biological weapons, but also nuclear terrorism.

The unit still does not have its full amount of equipment – it is lacking a true mobile field lab – but that is expected soon. The soldiers have been making do with lab equipment not designed for field use.

“I have no doubt the Guard unit will pass with flying colors,” Cleaves said.

Some of the regional state teams are in place, but are short on needed equipment or training. Others are only a plan. The teams are supposed to be able to respond within an hour to any potential hazardous situation. But, given Maine’s roads, a study indicates that an hour may translate into forty miles or less.

Some of the requests cut across state and local agencies. For example, the need for better communications is in several requests. Police agencies can easily communicate with other police agencies, and fire departments with fire departments, but a disaster drill at Togus in late September indicated a major gap in the ability of fire and ambulance services to communicate with police agencies.

Mills said a significant portion of her request is to develop a web-based communications network between the Bureau of Health, hospitals, nursing homes and other health care providers. She said an early response to a chemical or biological attack depends on quick detection, and that relies on doctors and local hospitals getting the information to the state.

“Just look at what went on with anthrax in the early stages,” she said. “We need a better two-way flow of information.”

The request also includes funds for a wide range of state agencies. The Marine Patrol, for example, has taken over some port and harbor security tasks from the Coast Guard and needs additional funds. The Department of Public Safety has requested more than $800,000 to pay for heightened security costs incurred by its several agencies, principally the Maine State Police.

The airport security legislation passed last week provides funding for more screening equipment and guards. That will allow phasing out of National Guard soldiers at screening points as newly trained security personnel become available. But many other aspects of security needs at ports and border crossing are unaddressed for the long term.

“Congress needs to get going on this,” King said.

While there has been a lot of discussion in Congress and the Bush administration about providing states and local governments with additional resources, King said there has been little action.

All four members of Maine’s congressional delegation are supporting measures to help the states, but Congress is home on recess until Nov. 27, and action before the end of the year is growing less likely.