HERMISTON – People might appreciate the measures in place to protect them from an accident at the Umatilla Chemical Depot a lot more if they visited Russia.

In the town of Penza, the capital city of Penza state, a chemical weapons depot is only several hundred yards from an elementary school.

The weapons are stored above ground, in wood-and-metal warehouses with windows.

Warehouse doors are secured with bicycle padlocks.

And while people in Eastern Oregon rant about the deficiencies of safety programs here, the measures are miles above Penza’s program.

That’s because Penza really has no such program.

These chilling messages were relayed to the Hermiston City Council by several citizens from Penza, a city of 530,000. The town hosts one of seven weapons storage sites in Russia, which, like the Umatilla depot, stores VX, sarin and other weapons.

While the delegates visited the United States for a week to learn how chemical weapons safety programs are handled here, they also brought a message that they need help.

“To tell you how different the situation is, if we have any sort of emergency, the city will suffer,” said Vladimir Sheludko, the vice president of the Penza State Parliament and the group’s main speaker. “First of all, the (weapons) base is very close to the potable water supply. Secondly, we don’t have the shelter that would save the lives of the citizenry.”

Russia’s lackluster economy has hurt the nation as a whole, but has definitely maimed demilitarization efforts. Only two of the seven weapons sites are making progress toward destroying the stockpile – those sites are aided by foreign investments.

The group was impressed with how open the American communities are about the stockpiles, Sheludko said through a translator. School overpressurization units and the existing communications network impressed the Russians.

“We are so very far behind in informing people about an emergency at the base, so if we are to protect ourselves of any case of an emergency, we will only be able to do so in two to five hours.”

Paul Walker of Global Green USA, an environmental group that sponsored the trip, said he had “deep concern” that the weapons stored at Penza might be sold on the black market. When talking with the base commander, the fellow said he hadn’t been paid in six months.

Global Green, an affiliate of Green Cross International, is helping the Russian Federation develop public outreach programs into its chemical weapons destruction program.

Russia and the United States, the Cold War sparring partners, built up supplies of chemical weapons that have been stored for nearly 40 years. The weapons – 40,000 tons in Russia and 30,000 tons in the United States – are slowly degrading and must be destroyed by 2007, according to international treaty.

Walker speculated that Russia’s stockpile won’t be destroyed until 2020. Sheludko qualified the date: “If no foreign support, no way.”

The meeting wasn’t a total downer. The two groups exchanged gifts and the Russians opened the door toward having Hermiston delegates visit their town.

Sheludko said he was enthused to return home and share what he had learned from the visit. He plans to initiate legislation in the state parliament to increase public awareness of depot issues.