United States
                  Environmental Protection
                  Agency
Office of Solid Waste
and Emergency Response
(5104)
EPA 550-F-98-OO5
May 1998
                  Regulatory Reinvention
                  Proposed EPCRA Sections  302-312  Revisions
                  The Emergency Planning and Community Rignt-to-Know Act requires facilities to provide State
                  and local officials with information on their hazardous chemical inventories to support local
                  emergency planning. EPA has proposed some regulatory changes under EPCRA aimed at
                  relieving facilities from routine reporting of information that is not useful to the community.
                  The proposal simplifies and streamlines compliance, particularly for the chemical inventory
                  submissions required under EPCRA sections 311 and 312, without compromising the public's
                  right-to-know. EPCRA section 313 requirements would not be affected.
                  What's New?

                  EPA is exploring innovative ways to
                  improve the efficiency of the reporting
                  requirements under EPCRA sections
                  311-312 and has proposed several
                  major changes:

                  •   Higher reporting thresholds for
                      gasoline and diesel fuel at retail
                      gasoline stations. Retail gas
                      stations that  store gasoline and
                      diesel fuel entirely underground
                      and are in compliance with
                      underground storage tank (UST)
                      regulations would be subject to
                      the following thresholds under
                      section 311-312: 75,000 gallons
                      for all grades of gasoline
                      combined and 100,000 gallons
                      for diesel fuel.  EPA estimates
                      that the vast  majority of retail gas
                      stations will  have less than these
                      quantities.

                  The public and local emergency
                  planners and responders generally are
                  aware of the presence and the hazards
                  associated with gasoline and diesel
                  fuel. Underground storage minimizes
                  the risk of catastrophic releases.
           Finally, performance and operation
           standards already are in place under
           Resource Conservation and Recovery
           Act (RCRA) UST regulations.

           •   Relief from routine reporting for
               rock salt, sand, and gravel.
               Facilities that store or handle rock
               salt, sand, and gravel no longer
               would report these substances
               under sections 311-312,
               regardless of how much was
               onsite.

           These substances do not present a
           physical or health hazard to the public,
           emergency responders, or the
           environment.

           •   Relief from routine reporting for
               substances with low hazards and
               low risks. A substance that does
               not pose a significant physical or
               health hazard to the public,
               emergency response personnel, or
               the environment, would no longer
               be reportable under sections
               311-312, regardless of how much
               was onsite.
Chemical Emergency Preparedness and Prevention Office
                        ) Printed on recycled paper

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Local communities are best situated to judge the
level of risk presented in site-specific situations.

The elimination of unnecessary reporting will
help focus emergency preparedness and planning
on more significant hazards. However, it is
important to note that the proposed rule would not
affect the public's right-to-know regardless of
threshold levels.
                Important Note

  Under EPCRA, each State has the authority to adopt
  more stringent requirements, including setting lower
  threshold levels for individual substances than those
  established by EPA.  As a result, facilities should
  check with the State agency responsible for EPCRA
  section 312 Tier I/Tier II reporting to determine
  applicable requirements.
EPA also wants comment on several issues that
would give State and local governments more
flexibility to implement the existing requirements
of EPCRA sections 311-312:

•   Partnership programs for streamlined
    submission of and joint access to section 311
    and 312 information;

•   Electronic submittal of information;

•   Reporting of ONLY changes in information,
    rather than submitting a new inventory each
    year;

•   Allowing RCRA UST reports to fulfill
    EPCRA Section 312 requirements.

In keeping with the idea of regulatory reinvention,
EPA also has changed the format of the
regulations to make them easier to understand and
use.
.Other Changes

EPA is proposing to clarify reporting of mixtures
and change the interpretation of the existing
hazardous chemical exemption for solids under
section 311.

How Can I Find Out More?

The full text of the regulatory changes, the
preamble describing all of EPA's proposals, and
the flexibility options have been published in the
Federal Register. They are available in electronic
format on EPA's Chemical Emergency
Preparedness and Prevention Office homepage at
http://www.epa.gov/ceppo/.

For information on how these changes may affect
you, call EPA's Hotline at:

     (800) 424-9346/(703) 412-9810
     TDD: (800)553-7672
     Mon-Fri, 9am to 6pm, E.T.

How Can I Let EPA Know What I
Think?

EPA wants to hear directly from you. All
comments received will be considered as we
prepare the final EPCRA rule to  be issued later
this year.

You can submit your comments on the CEPPO
homepage (see above), or mail your comments to
EPA (refer to Docket Number 300RR-IF) at the
following address:

     Docket Coordinator, Headquarters
     U.S. EPA
     CERCLA Docket Office
     Mail Code 5201G
     401 M Street, SW
     Washington, DC 20460
     Chemical Emergency Preparedness and Prevention Office
                         > Printed on recycled paper

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