Note: Taken from EPA's "Chemicals in Your Community: A Guide to the Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act."
The LEPCs initial
task is to develop an emergency plan to prepare for and respond to chemical
emergencies. EPA's list of extremely hazardous substances may provide a
focus for setting priorities in your [the] planning effort. The plan is
required to be completed by October 17, 1988. This only the
beginning. The plan must be reviewed annually, tested, and
updated. Because the LEPC's members represent the community, they
should be familiar with factors that affect public safety, the environment, and
the economy of the community. That expertise will be essential as
the LEPC develops a plan tailored to the needs of its planning district.
An emergency plan must include the identity and location of hazardous materials,
procedures for immediate response to a chemical accident; ways to notify the
public about actions they must take; names of coordinators at plants; and
schedules and plans for testing the plan. Once the plan is written, the
SERC must review it. The LEPC must publicize the plan through the public
meetings or newspaper announcements, get public comments, and periodically test
the plan by conducting emergency drills. The LEPC must also update the
plan at least annually and let the public know of its activities.
The LEPC has other responsibilities besides developing an emergency response
plan. It receives emergency releases and hazardous chemical
inventory information submitted by local facilities, and must make this
information available to the public upon request. It must establish and
publicize procedures for handling these requests.
LEPCs have the authority to request additional information from facilities for
their own planning purposes or on behalf of others. LEPCs may want to
visit facilities in the community to find out what they are doing to reduce
hazards, prepare for accidents, and reduce hazardous inventories and releases.
LEPCs can take civil actions against facilities if they fail to provide the
information required under the Act.
In addition to its formal responsibilities, the LEPC serves as a focal point in
the community for information and discussions about hazardous substances,
emergency planning, and health and environmental risks. Citizens will
expect the LEPC to reply to questions about chemical hazards and risk management
actions. It can also anticipate questions about the extend and the health and
environmental effects of routine toxic chemical releases. Even though this
information is not required by the law to be sent to LEPCs, EPA and the states
are working together to ensure this information is available at the local
level. Many companies are voluntarily providing local committees and other
citizens with this information.
An LEPC can most effectively carry out its responsibilities as a community forum
by taking steps to educate the public about chemical risks, and working with
facilities to minimize those risks. The value of the information provided
by the Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act will be limited unless
citizens are given the means to understand the information and its
implications. The LEPC's ability to improve the safety and health of its
community will be greatly enhanced by the support of an informed and active
citizenry.
- Elected and local officials
- Law Enforcement
- Emergency Management
- Firefighting
- First aid
- Health
- Local environmental and transportation agencies
- Hospitals
- Broadcast and print media
- Community groups
- Representatives of facilities subject to the emergency planning and community right-to-know requirements
The Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act requires each state to set up a State Emergency Response Commission, or SERC. The 50 states and the U.S. territories and possessions have established these commissions, which are listed on page 33. Indian tribes have the option to function as an independent SERC or as part of the state in which the tribe is located (see Indian Tribes).
In some states, the SERCs have been formed from existing organizations, such as state environmental, emergency management, transportation, or public health agencies. In others, they are new organizations with representatives from public agencies and departments, along with various private groups and associations.
A broad perspective is crucial to the oversight role of the SERCs. Information available under crucial to the oversight role of the SERCs. Information available under the Act will involve air, water, solid waste, toxics, and other state and federal environmental programs and regulations.
Among the SERC's duties are to:
- Designate local emergency planning districts within the state.
- Appoint a Local Emergency Planning Committee (LEPC) to serve each of the districts.
- Coordinate and supervise the activities of the local committees, through regular communication and contact.
- Coordinate proposals for and distribution of training grant funds.
- Review local emergency response plans annually, making recommendations for any needed changes.
- Notify EPA of all facilities in the state that are either covered under emergency planning requirements, or have been designated as subject to these requirements by the SERC or the governor
The SERCs also receive reports and notifications required by the legislation: material safety data sheets (MSDSs) or lists of MSDS chemicals, emergency and hazardous chemical inventory forms, and notices of emergency releases (this data also goes to LEPCs).
The law requires that toxic release inventory information be provided to EPA and to the state, but does not designate any specific state agency. The SERC may be designated to receive these reports, or they may be submitted to the state environmental, health or emergency management agency (in almost every state this agency IS a member of the SERC). The designated agency must make the reports available to the public, and it can use them itself in developing and enforcing state environmental and public health programs. (See State Designated TRI Contacts for a list of the state contacts designated to receive the toxic release information.)
The SERC should provide the forum for coordinating all Title III information, and assisting in understanding and communicating the associated chemical risks.
The SERC is also responsible for:
- Establishing procedures for receiving and processing public requests for information collected under the Act.
- Asking for further information from facilities, at the request of the state or another party or at its own discretion, about a particular chemical or facility. Requesting information from EPA on the health effects of chemicals that EPA has agreed to designate "trade secret," and ensuring that this information is available to the public.
- Taking civil action against facility owners or operators who fail to comply with reporting requirements.
The SERC should ensure that its state programs are integrated with the federal law in order to strengthen enforcement.
The SERC can provide strong leadership, coordination, technical assistance, and training, work closely with LEPCs to help identify their specific needs and carry out their programs, and use its knowledge and expertise to help all affected groups, organizations and individuals meet their responsibilities under the Act.
The Fire Department should look at these reports to know about hazards at these locations in the event of a fire or spill (since some fire departments have hazardous materials response teams). Hopefully this information is reviewed by fire officials and stored in a rapidly retrievable form if needed quickly. It will also help to identify what hazardous materials the Fire Department should plan and train for.
LEPCs will be mostly interested in the facilities that have Extremely Hazardous Substances in quantities greater than the threshold planning quantities, because these are the facilities that must be included in local emergency response plans. Some LEPCs believe that their response plan written years ago is still current, as long as names and phone numbers are updated. This is almost certainly never true, because the inventory of chemicals at the facilities have changed from year to year. Some facilities may no longer need community plans because they have eliminated these chemicals or reduced their quantities to below the threshold planning quantity. Other facilities may have newly opened, or increased inventories of these chemicals to above the threshold planning quantity. They would now need to be included in the emergency response plan.