Chemical Safety Information, Site Security and Fuels Regulatory Relief Act: Public Meetings and Other Notifications


United States
Environmental Protection
Chemical Emergency Preparedness
and Prevention Office
Agency
United States
Federal Bureau of Investigation Office of Domestic Terrorism	October 1999	
Chemical Safety Information, Site Security and
Fuels Regulatory Relief Act:
Public Meetings and Other Notifications
On Aug. 5,1999, President Clinton signed the Chemical Safety Information, Site Security and Fuels
Regulatory Relief Act (PL 106-40). The new law primarily concerns the public availability of the Off-site
Consequence Analysis (OCA) sections of Risk Management Plans (RMPs) submitted by facilities under
regulations implementing Section 112(r) of the Clean Air Act (CAA). The new law prohibits government
officials from disclosing to the public the OCA sections of RMPs and other related materials until at least
Aug. 5, 2000. However, the law does not prohibit facilities from sharing with the public the OCA sections
of their RMPs, and it requires most facilities to provide the public with at least a summary of their OCA
information by Feb. 1, 2000.
Background
Section 112(r) of the Clean Air Act (CAA) requires
facilities with more than a threshold quantity of a
listed extremely hazardous substance to have a risk
management program in place and to submit a
summary of that program - the RMP - to the
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) by June
21, 1999.
Under Section 112(r) as originally enacted, RMPs,
including the OCA sections of RMPs, were publicly
available, since one purpose of RMPs is to inform
the public about facilities' safety programs and to
stimulate a dialogue between the community and
industry about chemical safety.
However, concerns were raised that widespread
electronic distribution of a database derived from
the OCA sections of RMPs could pose a security
risk. In response to this concern, the Chemical
Safety Information, Site Security and Fuels
Regulatory Relief Act was passed.
The new law, among other things, limits public
access to the OCA sections (i.e., sections 2 through
5) of RMPs and other related materials until at least
Aug. 5, 2000. By that date, the federal government
is to complete an assessment and rulemaking to
address the future public availability of those OCA
materials. In the meantime, the new law requires
facilities submitting RMPs to provide the public
with certain related information.
Public Meetings
If your facility was required to submit an RMP for
a Program 2 or Program 3 process, you must
announce and hold a public meeting by Feb. 1,
2000, to discuss your RMP, including the OCA
sections. If you meet the applicable definition of
"small business stationary source," you may opt to
publicly post a summary of your OCA information.
In either case, you must certify to the Federal
Bureau of Investigation (FBI) by June 5, 2000, that
you have held the meeting or posted the summary.
Facilities having only Program 1 processes are
exempt from the public meeting/summary
requirement.
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The new law requires that the public meeting must:
•	Be convened after "reasonable public notice"
of the meeting, and
•	"Describe and discuss the local implications"
of your RMP, including a summary of the
information in the OCA sections of your plan.
Your have broad discretion under PL 106-40 to
decide how best to announce and conduct a public
meeting that meets these requirements. The new
law allows you to conduct joint public meetings
with other facilities
Credit for Past Public Meetings
If your facility held or participated in a public
meeting between Aug. 5, 1998 and Aug. 5, 1999
that met the requirements for public meetings, you
do not have to conduct another public meeting.
You have fulfilled your public meeting requirement
if your meeting was open to the public; preceded by
reasonable public notice; and you described and
discussed the local implications of your RMP and
summarized the OCA information. Simply certify to
the FBI that you held such a meeting.
Note: To meet the requirements of the new law, the
past meeting must have considered the same
information that you submitted to EPA in your
RMP. If the information that you described and
discussed at the public meeting was significantly
different from that reported in your RMP, you must
convene another public meeting.
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Small Businesses
Facilities meeting the CAA Section 507(c)(1)
definition of "small business stationary source"
have the option of publicly posting a summary of
their OCA information instead of holding a public
meeting.
The new law requires that summaries prepared in
lieu of a public meeting must:
•	Be publicly posted; and
•	Summarize the information in sections 2
through 5 of your RMP.
Your facility qualifies as a "small business
stationary source" if it:
•	Is owned or operated by a person that employs
100 or fewer individuals;
•	Meets the definition of "small business
concern" in the Small Business Act (15 USC
631 et seq.);
•	Is not a "major stationary source" under the
CAA (see 42 USC 7661(2));
•	Emits less than 50 tons or more per year of
any regulated pollutant; and
•	Emits less than 75 tons per year of all
regulated pollutants.
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"Regulated pollutants" include all of the
pollutants regulated under the CAA, not just the
Chemical Emergency Preparedness and Prevention Office
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substances regulated under section 112(r) of the
CAA.
You have broad discretion under the new law to
decide how best to publicly post your OCA
information. Your town may have a public bulletin
board where the community regularly goes for
information about local activities. Or, you can
contact your Local Emergency Planning
Committee (LEPC) or County Emergency
Management Association to see if they have any
posting tips.
Certification to the FBI
By June 5, 2000, the owner or operator of your
facility must send a certification stating that the
public meeting has been held, or the OCA summary
posted, to:
Director, FBI
Attention: RMP Program - Room 1B327
935 Pennsylvania Ave. N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20535-0001
The FBI will document receipt of the certifications
and provide documentation to the EPA. No other
communication should be included with
certifications to the FBI.
Release of OCA Without
Restriction
The owner or operator of a facility may chose to
share with the public the OCA sections of the
facility's RMP. PL 106-40 provides that the OCA
sections of any RMP made available to the public
without restriction by the facility owner or operator
is not subject to the restrictions of the law.
Once a facility has released that portion of its RMP
to the public, government officials may do so, as
well.
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Notification to EPA
If your facility makes the OCA portion of your
RMP available to the public without restriction, PL
106-40 requires you to notify EPA that you have
done so. EPA must keep a public list of facilities
that have released the OCA portion of their RMPs
without restriction.
Chemical Emergency Preparedness and Prevention Office
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Enforcement
EPA has the authority to enforce the meeting,
certification, and notification provisions of the law.
Failing or refusing to comply with the above
provisions may result in EPA initiating a judicial
action in Federal district court to enforce the
obligations under the new law.
For More Information
Full text of the law and some Frequently Asked Questions
and Answers are available on EPA's Chemical Emergency
Preparedness and Prevention Office homepage at
http://www.epa.gov/ceppo
RMPs, except for sections 2 through 5 (the OCA portion),
are available on the Internet in a database called
RMP*Info. The public can access the data at
http://www.epa.gov/enviro.
Contact the Emergency Planning and Community Right-To-
Know Hotline at (800) 424-9346 or (703) 412-9810.
Mail the notice to:
RMP Reporting Center
P.O. Box 3346
Merrifield, VA 22116-3346
Chemical Emergency Preparedness and Prevention Office
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