EPA
United States
Environmental Protection
Agency
Office of
.Solid Waster and
Emergency Response
November 3991
Opportunities and Challenges for
Local Emergency Planning Committees:
Federal Laws and Technical Assistance
Chemical Emergency Preparedness
and Prevention Office (CEPPO)
Technical Assistance Bulletin
Volume 10, Number 1
A Letter to LEPCs....
Over the past five years since the passage of
SARA Title III, there have been many challenges that have
faced you as members of Local Emergency Planning
Committees. We have captured some, although clearly not
all, of your successes in our "Successful Practices" series,
which highlights innovative approaches to the
implementation of the Emergency Planning and Community
Right-to-Know Act.
Along with spreading the word on the
achievements of your colleagues, we have provided you with
technical information relating to specific chemicals in our
"Advisory" series. In order to keep you informed of what
tools and resources are available to assist you in your
efforts, and also to provide you with the latest information
on new legislation which will impact LEPCs, we have
developed this bulletin, "Opportunities and Challenges for
Local Emergency Planning Committees: Federal Laws and
Technical Assistance". EPA and other Federal agencies are
continuing to work toward supporting you in meeting these
challenges and in seizing these opportunities.
As you are probably aware, planning for and
preventing chemical accidents is an ongoing process. It is
encouraging to hear that some LEPCs are continuing to
emphasize hazards analysis and are exercising and revising
their plans. We hope that throughout the country, LEPCs
will continue to work toward reducing chemical risks
regardless of where in the process they are now. We further
urge that LEPCs continue to press those industries and
firms which have not yet submitted the required information
to get full compliance. Thank you for your involvement in
this important program. We hope that this document will
provide you with some new insights into the opportunities
and challenges that we will be facing in the coming yeans.
Sincerely,
Jim Makris, Director
Chemical Emergency Preparedness and Prevention Office
What's Inside This Bulletin...
Your work to date has probably focused on complying
with the community planning and right-to-know provisions
of SARA Title HI. Most local emergency planning
committees (LEPCs) have been developing methods to
manage MSDSs and Tier I and II reports; conducting
hazards analyses; forming cooperative relationships with
local facility owners and operators; and developing,
exercising, and revising emergency plans.
Over the next few years, other laws and proposed
regulations will affect your work. These laws will give you
the opportunity to do a better job. You will have access to
federal funding for your planning, training, and response
activities. Additional information from facilities will make
your hazards analyses more precise and will help you
improve your community plans.
EPA's Chemical Emergency Preparedness and
Prevention Office (CEPPO) will continue to offer various
forms of technical assistance to LEPCs. This bulletin
describes CAMEO, a computer software package that can
help you organize and use information about chemical
hazards in your community. It also summarizes several laws
and proposed regulations that will influence your work. The
laws that this information bulletin focuses on are:
The Hazardous Materials Transportation Uniform
Safety Act of 1990;
Section 123 of SARA;
The 1990 Clean Air Act Amendments;
The OSHA health and safely standards issued under
SARA Title I;
The Oil Pollution Act of 1990;
The Pollution Prevention Act; and
Other proposed federal regulations.
Printed on Recycled Paper
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COMPUTER AIDED MANAGEMENT OF
EMERGENCY OPERATIONS (CAMEO)
CAMEO provides the tools .necessary to manage and
use information collected .under SARA Title III. The
system was developed by the National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration (NO'AA) and EPA tp assist
LEPCS, emergency responders, emergency planners, and
others involved in activities concerned with the safe
handling of chemicals, and is being used by local
governments, fire departments, and industry throughout
the United States, including the cities of Miami (Florida)
and Portland (Oregon). CAMEO is now available for
both Macintosh and IBM-compatible computers.
The CAMEO system includes:
Response information for over 3,000 chemicals
commonly transported in the United States;
Databases where you record Tier II chemical
inventories and the locations of special
populations;
The capability to import Toxic Release Inventory
Data;
The ability to create scenarios using federal
hazards analysis calculations to assist in emergency
planning and overlay the estimated vulnerable zone
on maps of your community;
A mapping capability that allows you to identify
the proximity and potential hazard posed by
facilities to sensitive populations;
* A drawing capability to pinpoint locations of
chemicals stored in your community on facility
floor plans that you create; and
An air dispersion model that can be used to help
you evaluate spill scenarios and evacuation options
for 700 airborne toxic chemicals (this feature is
available for the Macintosh and is being developed
for CAMEO DOS); .
EPA will evaluate how CAMEO might be adapted to
meet future information requirements imposed by new
legislation. For information regarding CAMEO, contact
your EPA regional office or the Emergency Planning and
Community Right-to-Know Information Hotline at (800)
535-0202.
SUCCESSFUL PRACTICES IN TITLE III
IMPLEMENTATION.
The Chemical Emergency Preparedness and Prevention
Office (CEPP.O) publishes a series of Technical
Assistance bulletins known as Successful Practices in Title
III Implementation. These bulletins describe procedures
and strategies that are innovative and particularly
effective in implementing programs required by Title III.
By illustrating various aspects of programs from different
areas of the country, LEPCs, SERCs, fire departments,
and other Title III implementing agencies receive
information which may prove useful to the development
of their own program.
Each profile describes the LEPC, its organizational
structure, and the area in which it functions. The
activities undertaken by the LEPC, the lessons learned
from those activities, and a contact person are provided.
For example, a recent profile described the Harford
County, Maryland efforts to improve outreach by
developing a public safety video and to increase state
funding by organizing a caucus to support legislation that
would help local jurisdictions recover the costs of
implementing Title III.
For information on past issues, or if you know of Title
III implementation efforts that would be of interest to
others, contact the Emergency Planning and Community
Right-to-Know Information Hotline at (800) 535-0202.
HAZARDOUS MATERIALS TRANSPORTATION
UNIFORM SAFETY ACT OF 1990 (HMTUSA) -
SECTION 117
LEPCs will be pleased to learn that HMTUSA, under the
administration of the Department of Transportation,
included funding grants for planning and hazmat training,
as well as requiring curriculum development for
responders. Reimbursable grants made under HMTUSA
will be for approved planning and/or training activities.
Specifically, HMTUSA:
Provides for planning grants ($5 million per year
from 1993 through 1998) for:
Developing, improving, and implementing
Title III plans, including the determination
of transportation flow patterns of
hazardous materials; and
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Determining the need'for regional hazardous
materials emergency response teams.
Requires that states, to qualify for these planning
grants, agree to pass through at least 75 percent of
their planning grant directly to LEPCs to develop,
improve, and implement emergency plans.
Provides for training grants ($7.8 million per year
from 1993 through 1998) to states and Indian
tribes for training public sector employees in
hazmat response. These funds may be used for
delivery of training, including tuition costs, student
and trainer travel expenses, and room and board at
training facilities.
« Requires that states, to qualify for these training
grants, certify that they are complying with sections
301 (dealing with LEPC membership and rules)
and 303 (dealing with LEPC plans and
recommendations regarding resources) of SARA
Title III.
Provides that the Department of Transportation
(DOT) (in coordination with other agencies)
develop and periodically update a curriculum a
list of courses necessary to train public sector
emergency response and preparedness teams. The
Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA)
is then to distribute the curriculum and updates to
the Regional Response Teams (RRTs), SERCs,
and LEPCs.
LEPCs should immediately consult with SERC officials
to learn about grants under HMTUSA. These grants
might be used for HAZWOPER and other training
activities. In addition, LEPCs now have a possible
source of funding for conducting a transportation hazards
analysis and generally improving their emergency plans.
REIMBURSEMENT FOR EMERGENCY
RESPONSE ACTIONS (UNDER SECTION 123
OF SARA)
SARA not only includes Title III as a free-standing
statute. It also includes (in Title I) section 123, an
authorization for EPA to reimburse local governments
for expenses incurred in carrying out temporary
emergency measures in response to hazardous substance
incidents. Reimbursement, however, must not supplant
local government funds normally provided for emergency
response.
Reimbursement under Section 123 covers activities such
as 'erecting security fencing to limit access; responding to
fires, explosions, and chemical releases; and other actions
that require immediate response at the local level in
order .to prevent or mitigate injury to human health or
the environment. EPA will consider reimbursement for
costs of such items as disposable materials and supplies
purchased and used for the response in question; rental
or leasing of equipment used for the specific response;
replacement of equipment contaminated beyond reuse or
repair during a specific response; special technical
services and laboratory costs; and services and supplies
purchased for a specific evacuation.
The following rules and restrictions apply to
reimbursement under Section 123:
Local governments must be in compliance with
Section 303(a) of SARA Title III which requires the
development of a comprehensive response plan. The
sole exemption from this requirement is if the SERC
has not established an LEPC for the locality in
question.
The law specifically limits reimbursement to $25,000
per response.
Any local government may apply for reimbursement
and only one request for reimbursement will be
accepted for each emergency response action taken.
When more than one local agency has participated in
a response, those agencies must determine which
single agency will submit the request on behalf of
them all.
EPA will distribute the reimbursement money to
those applicants who demonstrate the greatest
financial burden. Based upon the financial burden
ranking for each request and the funds available for
reimbursement, a request may be reimbursed, denied,
or held over for reconsideration.
For more information on Section 123 and to obtain an
application package, contact the RCRA/Superfund
hotline at (800) 424-9346.
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CLEAN AIR ACT (CAA) AMENDMENTS OF
1990
Accidental Release Provisions. Under the Clean Air Act
Amendments, facilities are required to provide
information on the ways they manage risks posed by
certain substances listed by EPA and indicate what they
arc doing to minimize risk to the community.
Specifically, under the accidental release provisions of the
CAA Amendments:
* EPA must prepare and promulgate by November
1992 a list of at least 100 substances (with
threshold quantities) that can cause death, injury,
or serious adverse impacts to human health or the
environment.
In developing the list of substances, EPA is to
consider (but not be limited to) the list of
extremely hazardous substances (EHSs) under
SARA Title III section 302, and must include the
following 16 .substances: chlorine, ammonia, .
anhydrous ammonia, methyl chloride, ethylene
oxide, vinyl chloride, methyl isocyanate, hydrogen
cyanide, hydrogen sulfide, toluene diisocyanate,
phosgene, bromine, anhydrous hydrogen chloride,
hydrogen fluoride, anhydrous sulfur dioxide, and
sulfur trioxide.
For any regulated substance present at a facility
above the threshold quantity, owners or operators
must prepare a risk management plan that
includes:
* A hazard assessment;
* A program for preventing releases, including safety
precautions as well as maintenance, monitoring,
and employee training;
A response program, including-notifying the public
and local responders, providing emergency health
care, and employee training.
EPA must prepare guidance and regulations for
risk management plans by November 1993.
Facilities must comply with this requirement three
years after the date of promulgation.
Facilities must submit the risk management plan
to stales and local emergency planners, and make
the plan available to the public.
A Chemical Accident Safety Board is formed.
LEPCs may want to participate in Board
investigations and obtain results of those
investigations in order to revise their plans, if
necessary, to reflect Board findings. The Board
may recommend federal, state, local, and
industry actions to improve chemical safety.
Over the next three to four years, the accidental release
provisions are likely to result in ah influx of large
quantities of facility-specific information to LEPCs.
While this may pose some logistical problems initially, it
presents a remarkable opportunity for LEPCs to obtain
vital, current information about facilities that may have
been difficult to obtain on a voluntary basis. These risk
management plans, with their analysis of off-site impacts,
could thus help LEPCs focus their efforts on high
priority hazards in the community, both for planning and
prevention purposes. LEPCs will also be better able to
coordinate community plans with facility plans.
Process Safety Management of Highly Hazardous
Chemicals. The Clean Air Act Amendments also require
OSHA to publish new regulatory requirements for
processes using highly hazardous chemicals. The term
"highly hazardous" refers to those materials which possess
toxic, flammable, reactive, or explosive properties as
defined in the regulation. OSHA has proposed a list that
delineates exactly which chemicals fall under the
regulatory definition. The proposed, regulation
establishes procedures and requirements for the safe
management of hazards associated with industrial
chemical processes. Workplaces covered by this new
standard would be those conducting any activity that
involves a highly hazardous chemical including any use,
storage, manufacturing, handling, processing, or
movement, or any combination of these activities at or
above the threshold quantity specified by OSHA in the
standard. These requirements are intended to prevent or
minimize the consequences of major industrial accidents,
thus protecting employees from the hazards of toxicity,
fires and/or explosions.
Employer compliance with this standard will be of
interest to LEPCs as it may reduce risk to the
community. LEPCs may want to ask employers whether
they are subject to the standard, and if so, whether they
are complying with it. If LEPCs need process safety
management information, they could get it from
employers under the provisions of SARA section
303(d)(3). The Chemical Emergency Preparedness and
Prevention Office (CEPPO) is working with OSHA to
coordinate efforts under the new OSHA regulatory
scheme with activities under the Clean Air Act
Amendments to minimize confusion and overlap, and
ensure that the two programs complement, rather that
detract from, each other. LEPCs will need to understand
how the two regimes interact and communicate this
information to facilities, so that compliance with each
can be ensured, and that the community hazards analysis
and emergency plan can be kept up to date.
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SARA TITLE I: HAZWOPER STANDARDS
Under the authority of Section 126 of SARA Title I (not
Title III), EPA and OSHA issued health and safety
standards to protect workers engaged in hazardous waste
operations and emergency response (HAZWOPER). The
HAZWOPER standards affect employers whose
employees are engaged in emergency response operations
without regard to location, where there is a release or a
substantial threat of release of a hazardous substance.
OSHA's regulations do not cover volunteer responders;
volunteers in states subject to EPA regulations are
covered.
The HAZWOPER standards cover emergency response
planning as well as training:
Emergency Response Planning. An employer
(including public sector employers such as fire
departments) must develop a Title I emergency
response plan to protect workers during a release
of all kinds of hazardous substances, including
EHSs, CERCLA hazardous substances, RCRA
hazardous wastes, and any substance listed by the
U.S. Department of Transportation as a hazardous
material.
The required elements of these employer-specific plans
are similar to the required elements of LEPC plans.
Indeed, employers may include parts of the LEPC plan
in their Title I plans, which also must address
coordination with outside parties. The HAZWOPER
requirements reinforce the LEPC planning process by
bridging on-site and off-site planning.
LEPCs may obtain the employer plans from employers
under the provisions of SARA Section 303(d)(3).
These plans will include information about the facility
that should be helpful to LEPCs developing a
comprehensive emergency plan.
Training. The standard reflects a tiered approach
to training, linking the amount and type of training
to an employee's potential for exposure to
hazardous substances and to other health hazards
during a hazardous waste operation or an
emergency response. The greater the potential
hazard, the more extensive and stringent the
training requirements. Annual refresher training is
required for all employees trained under the
standard.
The LEPC may want to be involved in determining the
appropriate level of training for public sector;
employees, based upon its community hazards analysis.
The LEPC will need to know the training levels in
order to develop .the training schedules which must
be a part of its plan. LEPCs should work with the
state to pursue grants under HMTUSA to support
training programs. (See the description of HMTUSA
above.)
Note that Title I plans focus on worker safety, while Title
III plans focus on community safety. Coordination
between facilities and LEPCs should improve greatly
when Title I plans are developed, as facilities that have
completed worker safety plans have already done much of
the work necessary to develop community plans, and
should be more confident dealing with their LEPCs.
LEPCs can use Title I in conjunction with Title III to
integrate the best elements of individual facility plans
into a comprehensive local emergency response strategy.
OIL POLLUTION ACT (OPA) OF 1990
The Oil Pollution Act (OPA) of 1990 includes national
planning and preparedness provisions for oil spills that
are similar to SARA Title III provisions for extremely
hazardous substances. Specifically, the OPA:
Establishes Area Committees under the direction of
a federal On-Scene Coordinator (OSC) to develop
contingency plans for specific areas at risk of damage
from an oil spill. (EPA is responsible for Area
Committees for inland areas, while the U.S. Coast
Guard is responsible for those in coastal areas);
Requires Area Committees to work with state and
local officials (e.g., SERCs and LEPCs)to enhance
state and local contingency planning and response;
Requires owners or operators of certain vessels and
facilities to prepare response plans, coordinated and
consistent with LEPC plans, for worst-case oil and
hazardous substance discharges;
Requires consistency among facility/vessel plans, area
contingency plans, and the National Contingency
Plan; and
Requires regular drills (exercises) to test these plans.
The OPA is an opportunity for LEPCs to take the
following steps:
Coordinate their Title III plans with area and facility
oil spill plans covering the same geographical area;
whenever possible, coordinate and standardize
response procedures for all hazards;
Attend exercises required by the OPA and invite
Area Committee members and federal OSCs to
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attend Title III exercises to ensure that lessons learned
will be shared widely;
Learn about the National Response System;
incorporate the RRT and provisions for federal
response assistance in its Title III plan as
appropriate; include a federal OSC in ongoing
Title III preparedness activities as appropriate; and
Consider submitting the Title III plan to the RRT
(by way of the SERC) for review and comment.
This can be done under current provisions of Title
III section 303(g).
POLLUTION PREVENTION ACT
The Pollution Prevention Act represents a fundamental
shift in the traditional approach to pollution control.
Instead of concentrating on the treatment and disposal of
wastes, it seeks to focus industry, government, and public
attention on reducing the amount of pollution produced.
Source reduction offers industry the potential to realize
substantial savings from reduced raw material needs,
pollution control, and liability costs. Source reduction
also helps protect the environment and reduces risk to
worker and public health and safety.
The following features of the Pollution Prevention Act
are of particular interest to LEPCs:
The establishment of a state matching grant
program to promote the use of source reduction
techniques by businesses;
The creation of a publicly available source
reduction clearinghouse;
The implementation of source reduction and
recycling data collection (source reduction and
recycling data will be incorporated into the TRI
database and made available subject to the
confidentiality provisions of SARA Title III); and
The streamlining and coordination of reporting
requirements.
LEPCs should make themselves familiar with the
Pollution Prevention Act and share their information
with local facilities as well as with the general public,
actively encouraging pollution prevention and
source/hazard reduction. As facilities comply with the
Pollution Prevention Act, LEPCs should regularly
reassess the community hazards analysis and modify the
emergency plan accordingly. LEPCs should also
encourage facilities to seek and use the technical
assistance made available-under the grant program.
PROPOSED LAWS AND REGULATIONS
There are a number of proposed laws and regulations
that could eventually have an impact on LEPCs, with
regard to their compliance with and implementation of
Title III requirements. We intend to update this
document in the future, to reflect the passage of any
relevant legislation that would affect LEPCs. As of this
writing, the following regulations have been proposed:
Adding Explosives to the List of Extremely Hazardous
Substances. The current list of extremely hazardous
substances issued under section 302 of SARA Title III
focuses on toxics that have lethal effects after a short
exposure. Additionally, other hazardous chemicals are
covered by the right-to-know reporting requirements
under sections 311 and 312 if they are present in
quantities greater than 10,000 pounds. EPA has
determined that commercial explosives in quantities less
than 10,000 pounds can produce serious damage if. they
are accidentally detonated in a community. In August
1990, therefore, EPA announced that it is considering
adding chemicals to the SARA Title III section 302 list
of extremely hazardous substances based on their
explosivity.
If EPA's proposal takes effect, LEPCs will be required to
include the listed explosives in their emergency plans.
This means that LEPCs will need to:
Understand the hazards associated with explosive
chemicals;
Identify where explosives are in the community; and
Modify their plans to include emergency response to
incidents involving accidental explosions.
EPA's Draft Stormwater Permit Rule. EPA has issued a
draft regulation establishing general permit standards for
stormwater discharges under the Clean Water Act. In
addition to requiring the development of stormwater
management plans, this draft rule would require facilities
in 19 sectors of American industry covered by section 313
of SARA Title III to test effluent for acute toxicity;
construct diversionary structures to contain potentially
contaminated stormwater (or, alternatively, to install
drainage to keep stormwater from reaching storage areas
where it could become contaminated); and protect
storage piles from exposure to stormwater, wind-blowing
and leaching.
In addition, chemical storage tanks would be required to
have secondary containment systems sufficient to contain
the material if the tank fails. Truck and rail car loading
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and unloading areas also would be required to have
secondary containment sufficient to hold the contents of
a breached tank.
LEPCs will want to coordinate their emergency plans
with the stormwater management plans. In addition,
LEPCs should inform themselves about any prevention
steps that facilities take so that LEPC plans include an
up-to-date evaluation of local hazards.
More Information...
For additional details about any of the laws described in this
bulletin, contact -
Your State Emergency Response Commission (SERC);
EPA's Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know
Information Hotline at (800) 535-0202 from 8:30 a.m. to
7:30 p.m. (Eastern time), Monday through Friday.
EPA Regional Offices:
I.
II.
III.
IV.
V.
VI.
VII.
VIII.
IX.
X.
Boston
New York
Philadelphia
Atlanta
Chicago
Dallas
Kansas City
Denver
San Francisco
Seattle
(617) 565-4502
(212) 264-2515
(215) 597-9800
(404) 347-1033
(312) 886-6871
(214) 655-2277
(913) 551-7005
(303) 293-1723
(415) 774-2100
(206) 442-1200
Please send comments on this information bulletin,
suggestions for future subjects and address corrections to:
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