Sevier County Local Emergency Planning Committee (LEPC) / Hazmat

Frequently Asked Questions

• What is the LEPC?

  The Local Emergency Planning Committee (LEPC) is a federally mandated entity composed of state and local officials, business representatives and members of the press.

• What is the LEPC’s purpose?

  The role of the LEPC is to form a partnership with local governments and industries as a resource for enhancing hazardous materials preparedness. Local governments are responsible for the integration of hazmat planning and response within their jurisdiction. This includes ensuring the local hazard analysis adequately addresses hazmat incidents; incorporating planning for hazmat incidents into the local emergency management plan and annexes; assessing capabilities and developing hazmat response capability using local resources, mutual aid and contractors; training responders; and exercising the plan.

  In the wake of the Bhopal disaster in India in the 1980’s Congress passed the Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act (EPCRA), also known as Title III of the Superfund Amendments and Reauthorization Act (SARA), in 1986. EPCRA establishes requirements for businesses and for federal, state, and local governments regarding emergency planning and community right-to-know (CRTK) reporting for hazardous chemicals. The CRTK provision in EPCRA helped increase awareness about the presence of chemicals in their communities and releases of these chemicals into the environment. Many State legislatures also enacted CRTK laws that are consistent with federal law. As a result, States and communities, working with industry, are better able to protect public health and the environment.

  It’s necessary for industry to be a part of that planning process to ensure facility plans are compatible with local emergency plans. Every regulated facility is responsible for identifying a facility emergency coordinator; reporting hazmat inventories annually to the LEPC, SERC, and local fire department; providing material safety data sheets (MSDS) or a list of hazardous chemicals; allowing local fire departments to conduct on-site inspection of hazmat facilities; and providing annual report of toxic chemicals released to EPA and the State. LEPCs are crucial to local hazardous materials planning and community right-to-know programs.

  The membership comes from the local area and should be familiar with factors that affect safety, the environment, and the economy of the community. That expertise is essential as the LEPC advises the writers of the local emergency management plan, so that the plan is tailored to the needs of the planning district. In addition to its formal duties, the LEPC can serve as a focal point in the community for information and discussion about hazardous substance emergency planning, and health and environmental risks. Citizens may expect the LEPC to reply to questions about chemical hazards and risk management actions

• What is the Emergency Planning and Community Right-To-Know Act (EPCRA)?

  The goal of the 1986 Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act (EPCRA) is to prepare communities for and protect communities from chemical accidents. To ensure these goals are achieved, Section 301 of EPCRA required the creation of State Emergency Response Commissions (SERCs), Tribal Emergency Response Commissions (TERCs), Tribal Emergency Planning Committees (TEPCs), and Local Emergency Planning Committees (LEPCs). These groups share responsibility for developing and implementing emergency response plans and providing residents with information on the presence and releases of hazardous chemicals reported by facilities in each community. EPCRA has four major focus areas:

  Sections 302 to 303 focus on emergency planning. Section 302 requires notification when Extremely Hazardous Substances (EHSs) are present at facilities in quantities at or above the Threshold Planning Quantity (TPQ) established in the EPCRA regulations. Section 303 requires LEPCs and TEPCs to develop initial emergency response plans and update them annually and outlines the required elements of the plans.

  Section 304 requires notification of accidental chemical releases. It requires facilities to immediately report accidental releases of certain chemicals to state, tribal and local authorities. Facilities must immediately report accidental releases of EHSs and “hazardous substances” defined under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA). Any releases of these substances that meet or exceed their corresponding Reportable Quantities (RQs) must be reported to their SERC (or TERC) and LEPC (or TEPC). Facilities are also required to submit a written follow-up report of these releases to these officials.

  Sections 311 and 312 focus on hazardous chemical storage reporting requirements. Section 311 requires facilities to submit a Material Safety Data Sheet (MSDS) (Safety Data Sheet (SDS)) to the SERC (or TERC), LEPC (or TEPC) and local fire departments for each hazardous chemical (as defined by the Occupational Health and Safety Act) that they handle or store. Section 312 requires the same facilities to submit a Tier I or Tier II hazardous chemical inventory form to the SERC (or TERC), LEPC (or TEPC) and local fire department. These forms identify the amount, location and potential hazards of each chemical on site at the facility at any point during the year.

  Section 313 established the Toxics Release Inventory (TRI). The TRI is a publicly available database that contains information on the quantities of certain toxic chemicals released annually to air, water and land, or otherwise managed as waste by industrial and federal facilities throughout the United States. The information facilities submit is compiled in the TRI and made publicly available through online tools, written analyses, and interactive charts and maps. The information is always available and always free, and helps support informed decision-making by communities, government agencies, companies, and others.

• What are the required elements of a community emergency response plan?

  • Identification of facilities and transportation routes of extremely hazardous substances.
  • Description of emergency response procedures, on and off site.
  • Designation of a community coordinator and facility emergency coordinator(s) to implement the plan.
  • Outline of emergency notification procedures.
  • Description of how to determine the probable affected area and population by releases.
  • Description of local emergency equipment and facilities and the persons responsible for them.
  • Outline of evacuation plans.
  • A training program for emergency responders (including schedules).
  • Methods and schedules for exercising emergency response plans.

• What is the reportable quantity of a chemical/substance?

  There are two types of hazardous substances that must be reported under Tier II.

  1. Extremely Hazardous Substances. This list is published and updated regularly by US EPA in 40 CFR 355. Each chemical has a threshold planning quantity (TPQ). If the use or storage of a chemical exceeds the TPQ or 500 pounds, whichever is less, it must be reported.

  2. OSHA Hazardous Substances. The reporting of these hazardous substances applies to any facility that is required to prepare of have available a material safety data sheet (MSDS) for any chemical covered by the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970 (OSHA) and the regulations promulgated by the Act. Approximately, 500,000 products have MSDSs required by OSHA, and most of them are listed in 29 CFR 1910, Subpart Z.

  The thresholds for reporting under the Tier II program are:

  1. EHS = 500 pounds of the TPQ, whichever is less. Listed EHSs or CERCLA hazardous substances, a weight of 1 pound shall be the reportable quantity.
     a. 1 gallon of water = 8 lbs
  2. Gasoline (all grades combined) at retail gas stations, if all gasoline is stored in compliant underground storage tanks = 75,000 gallons. Tanks which hold >75,000 gallons must  submit a Tier II Report to the local LEPC.
     Above Ground Storage Tanks that store 10,000 pounds of gasoline are required to be reported to the Local LEPC.
     a. 1 gallon of gasoline = approximately 6 lbs
  3. Diesel (all grades combined) at retail gas stations, if all diesel fuel is stored in compliant underground storage tanks = 100,000 gallons. Tanks which hold >100,000 gallons must  submit a Tier II Report to the local LEPC.
     Above Ground Storage Tanks that store 10,000 pounds of diesel are required to be reported to the Local LEPC.
     a. 1 gallon of diesel = approximately 7 lbs
  4. All other OSHA identified Hazardous Chemicals = to or greater than 10,000 pounds.
  5. Quantities are cumulative throughout the span of 1 year.

• How do I submit a Tier II Report?

  All Tier II reports should be submitted electronically via E-Plan.  Tier II reports can be submitted via the E-Plan website – https://erplan.net/

• How is release defined?

  Release means any spilling, leaking, pumping, pouring, emitting, emptying, discharging, injecting, escaping, leaching, dumping, or disposing into the environment (including the abandonment or discarding of barrels, containers, and other closed receptacles) of any hazardous chemical, EHS, or CERCLA hazardous substance.

• What is the State Emergency Response Commission (SERC)?

  SERC means the State Emergency Response Commission for the State in which the facility is located except where the facility is located in Indian Country, in which case, SERC means the Emergency Response Commission for the Tribe under whose jurisdiction