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
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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
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