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    Senator, Guard chief thank civil support teams for work in Elk River spill

    Senator, Guard chief thank civil support teams for work in Elk River spill

    Photo By Officer Candidate Jesse Searls | Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Gen. Frank Grass, chief, National Guard Bureau,...... read more read more

    WASHINGTON, DC, UNITED STATES

    01.28.2014

    Story by 1st Lt. Miranda Summers Lowe 

    DC National Guard

    By 1st Lt. Miranda Summers Lowe, District of Columbia National Guard, and Cotton Puryear, Virginia National Guard

    WASHINGTON - Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Gen. Frank Grass, chief, National Guard Bureau, met with National Guard soldiers and airmen today at the D.C. Armory to personally recognize their work supporting local authorities during the recent water contamination incident in West Virginia.

    “The National Guard is the first line of defense not just in West Virginia, but in every state.” Manchin said to the National Guard members from The District of Columbia, Maryland and West Virginia Civil Support Teams, which support chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear threat reduction capabilities. “Now the whole country can see what you can do.”

    “States take care of states.” said Grass. “The National Guard is ready to coordinate and take care of the work.”

    Eight civil support teams from West Virginia, Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Maryland and the District of Columbia responded to the chemical contamination in Charleston, W. Va. beginning Jan. 9. The teams were able to support West Virginia’s 35th Civil Support Team with collecting and transporting water samples. New Civil Support Teams are rotating into West Virginia as others rotate out to support other missions.

    “We’re proud of our West Virginia Guard and everything that you can do,” said Maj. Gen. Jim Hoyer, Adjutant General of the West Virginia National Guard, who was also there to recognize the service members. “To Maryland and D.C., we cannot thank you enough for your support. Your first sergeants and commanders are top of the line. Your troops are top of the line.”

    West Virginia officials lifted water restrictions that began Jan. 9, but sampling continues to evaluate the water supply. Officials say they will continue testing until the system has been sampled and tested at 1/100 parts per million (10 parts per billion), a level well below the Center for Disease Control recommended threshold for public health and considered to be the level of non-detection.

    "The impact of the National Guard has been huge," said Jeff McIntyre, president of West Virginia American Water. He said that his company has a lot of capability and technically savvy people, but the Guard has played a key role in helping with a water sampling effort that spans more than 3,000 square miles. "Their support shows us how important the National Guard is to a state and community or even a private enterprise that can't do everything it needs for the people of West Virginia."

    "After our initial response, we realized pretty quickly that we were going to need some help," said Lt. Col. Greg Grant, commander of the 35th CST. He said that while the water company was very skilled and experienced in their operations, the demand of collecting more than 1,500 samples over a period of more than 10 days required a huge effort. With the help of the other CSTs, water sampling operations have been running 24 hours a day.

    A National Guard weapons of mass destruction civil support team is comprised of 22 full-time Army and Air National Guard personnel with the mission to support civil authorities at a domestic chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear incident site with identification and assessment of hazards, advice to civil authorities, and facilitating the arrival of follow-on military forces during emergencies and incidents of weapons of mass destruction terrorism.

    National Guard Bureau WMD CST Fact Sheet:
    http://www.nationalguard.mil/media/factsheets/2013/WMD-CST-March-2013.pdf

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    NEWS INFO

    Date Taken: 01.28.2014
    Date Posted: 01.28.2014 20:45
    Story ID: 119780
    Location: WASHINGTON, DC, US

    Web Views: 136
    Downloads: 0

    PUBLIC DOMAIN