United States
Environmental Protection
Agency
Region 10
1200 Sixth Avenue
Seattle, WA
Superfund
October1988
• Issue emergency telephone numbers and
notification procedures, and identify
emergency assistance locations.
• Establish ways to determine the
occurrence of a hazardous chemical
release and the probable affected area
and population.
• Describe local and industrial emergency
equipment and facilities available for use
during a chemical emergency and
identify the persons andagencies
responsible for taking emergency action.
• Develop evacuation plans for your
community.
• Provide a training program for your local
emergency response personnel.
• Organize emergency response plan
exercises in your community to practice
emergency response procedures.
3. How Can You be Involved?
You can contribute to the emergency
planning process by making sure your
community group is participating on the local
committee or by being active yourself. These
are some ways to participate:
• Be certain your local emergency planning
committee has been formed.
• Call the community coordinator at your
local emergency administration.
• Attend and provide input to meetings of
your emergency planning committee.
• Examine your community emergency
response plan to be certain it meets your
needs.
• Review and comment on your
community's annual emergency
response plan.
• Request information that you need about
local regulated facilities from your local
planning committee.
• If your requests are denied, you may
bring civil action to obtain information to
which you are legally entitled.
The more involved you and your neighbors
are, the better you can respond, and the
safer you and your family will be if an
emergency happens. Knowing what to do will
help you and your family avoid panic in the
event of an emergency.
-------
.V.V.V.VV^p%%V.V.%V..V.V-Vp'.".".V-"."-V*V.V-V-VpV'-V-'-'-Vp'.'.VpV.'.\V.*-V-'-V-%'.
What is Title III?
«MMWH»MMgMMgcgflHfiBHg^^feffl
i?:**-^*:::::*:::::*:*;::^
Easy as
On October 17,1986, the "Superfund Amendments
and Reauthorization Act of 1986" (SARA) was enacted
into law. One of the new SARA provisions is Title III: the
Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act
of 1986. tide III establishes requirements for Federal,
State, and local governments and industry regarding
emergency planning and 'community right-to-know'
reporting on hazardous and toxic chemicals. This
legislation builds upon EPA's Chemical Emergency
Preparedness Program (CEPP) and numerous State and
local programs aimed at helping communities to better
meet their responsibilities in regard to potential chemical
emergencies. The community right-to-know provisions
of Title III will help to increase the public's knowledge of
and access to information on the presence of hazardous
chemicals in their communities and releases of these
chemicals into the environment
Title III has four major sections: emergency
planning, emergency notification, community right-
to-know reporting requirements, and toxic chemical
release reporting.
What Title III Means To You
• It helps you and your family be prepared for
chemical emergencies.
• It provides for your participation in your community
emergency planning.
• It keeps you informed about chemicals in your
community.
• It assists your community in preparing for chemical
emergencies.
Title III makes it possible for you to learn what steps
your local planning committee should take to be fully
prepared for any possible chemical emergency. By
learning what should be done, you can better prepare
yourself, your family, and your community for chemical
emergencies.
As of September 1988, Right-to-Know Laws were in
place in the states of Alaska, Oregon, and Washington.
These laws address Community and Worker Right-to-
Know requirements. Worker Right-to-Know Laws
require facilities to inform employees about chemicals in
their workplaces. Community Right-to-Know Laws
require facilities to provide this chemical information to
the communities in which they are located.
1. How Can You Obtain
Information?
Local emergency planning committees have
been organized as a result of Title III. Your
committee is your most immediate source of
information. This local committee is receiving
information from regulated facilities in your
community about the chemicals in use. Title III
required that all regulated facilities in your
community submit information about chemicals
that are being stored at or released from their
plants. All of this information - except that
protected by Trade Secrets provisions - is
required to be made available to you from your
local emergency planning committee (LEPC)
upon request.
Your LEPC's local community chemical
emergency response plan must be published
and reviewed annually. It will tell how you can
obtain chemical information such as Material
Safety Data Sheets (MSDSs) and chemical
inventory forms. You will have an opportunity to
comment on the plan when a public
announcement is published in your local
newspapers.
Information on toxic chemical emissions in
your community is available through the
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and
through designated State Government offices.
(Please refer to the "contacts" portion of this
brochure for the contact in your state.)
2. What Part Will Your State and
Local Government Play?
The Governor of each State has appointed
State Emergency Response Commissions.
These Commissions have established
procedures for receiving and processing
requests for information. The Commission has
identified local emergency planning districts and
committees have been established and are at
work.
Local community groups are among the
participants that are represented on these local
emergency planning committees. Other
participants include State and local agencies
such as fire and police departments, emergency
medical services, health agencies, civil defense,
hospitals, local environmental agencies, the
media, and owners of regulated facilities.
Owners and operators of regulated facilities must
submit information on their use and manufacture
of chemicals to their local emergency planning
committee and to the State commission. Your
local committee will establish its own operating
guidelines, give public notice of its activities, and
establish procedures for handling requests for
information.
The local committee's primary responsibility is
to develop and maintain a chemical emergency
response plan. Many communities and facilities
may already have other emergency plans and
procedures. These existing plans will be
modified to meet Title Ill's new requirements.
Your community's chemical emergency response
plan will:
• Identify facilities in your community wh
chemicals are used.
• Identify transportation routes for extremely
hazardous substances used in or passing
through your community.
• Establish emergency response procedures
to be followed within regulated facilities and
in your community.
• Name a community coordinator and facility
coordinator(s) to implement your
community's plan.
lere
------- |