Overview of the

Emergency Planning and Community Right to Know

Act

Southern Plains Area

USDA/ARS

Background

• Passed into law in 1986 as a result of events that focused attention on chemical accidents and their effect on health and the environment

• Also known as SARA Title III

Purpose

• Establishes requirements for Federal, State, and local governments regarding emergency planning, notification and Community Right to Know reporting on hazardous and toxic chemicals

EPCRA Components

• Emergency Planning

• Emergency Notification

• Community Right to Know, Hazardous Chemical Reporting

• Community Right to Know, Toxic Chemical Release Inventory

Emergency Planning

• Each State is required to establish:

– State Emergency Response Commission (SERC)

• Establish Local Emergency Planning Committee (LEPC)

Emergency Planning

• LEPC’s primary function is to develop emergency response plans for potential chemical accidents in the community

Emergency Planning

• A facility having present any listed extremely hazardous substances in a quantity equal to or greater than it’s Threshold Planning Quantity, you are subject to the emergency planning requirements and must be a member of the local LEPC

Emergency Planning

• Extremely hazardous substances and their Threshold Planning Quantities (TPQ) are published in 40 CFR, Part 355

• TPQ is expressed in pounds

Emergency Notification

• Facilities are required to immediately notify SERC’s and LEPC’s likely to be affected when there is a release to the environment of any EHS or a CERCLA hazardous substance at or greater than the reportable quantity

Emergency Notification

• Substances covered under CERCLA must be reported to the National Response Center as well as the SERC, LEPC, and local fire department.

Emergency Notification

• The critical number that determines if a release must be reported is the Reportable Quantity (RQ)

– Expressed in pounds

– If a release is equal to or greater than the listed RQ, it must be reported

Emergency Notification

• Substances subject to this requirement are those listed on the EPCRA EHS list and those listed under CERCLA Section 103 (a), 40 CFR 302.4

Community Right to Know (CRTK), Hazardous Chemical

Reporting

• Facilities are subject to hazardous chemical reporting if they have onsite, for any one day in a calendar year, an amount equal to or greater than:– 10,000 lbs. or greater of OSHA hazardous

chemicals– 500 lbs or the TPQ, which ever is less for

extremely hazardous substances

CRTK Hazardous Chemical Reporting

• There are two hazardous chemical reporting requirements:

– Material Safety Data Sheet reporting

– Emergency and Hazardous Chemical Inventory

CRTK Hazardous Chemical Reporting

• Material Safety Data Sheet Reporting:

– Must provide a MSDS to the SERC, LEPC, and local Fire Department for each chemical above the threshold

MSDS

CRTK Hazardous Chemical Reporting

• Hazardous Chemical Inventory Reporting:– Must submit annual inventory to the SERC,

LEPC, local Fire Department and State Environmental Offices

• Tier I reports on the estimated yearly amount, daily amount and location of chemical

• Tier II report is more detailed and may be requested by regulators in lieu of Tier I

Community Right to Know, Toxic Chemical Release

Inventory• Is to inform the public

and government officials of “Routine Releases” of toxic chemicals to the environment

• Sometimes called TRI or 313 reporting

CRTK, Toxic Chemical Release Inventory

• “Release” means any spilling, leaking, pumping, pouring, emitting, emptying, discharging, injecting, escaping, leaching, dumping or disposing of into the environment any toxic chemical

– Includes the abandonment or discarding of barrels, containers, and other closed receptacles

CRTK, Toxic Chemical Release Inventory

• Any facility that manufactures or processes in excess of 25,000 lbs of a TRI listed chemical or otherwise uses a listed chemical in excess of 10,000 lbs in a calendar year must submit to the EPA and the State a Toxic Chemical Release Inventory

– Certain bioaccumulative and persistent chemicals have lower thresholds

• Requirement is published in 40 CFR 372

CRTK, Toxic Chemical Release Inventory

• TRI (313) form is submitted annually to the EPA and State– A very detailed report

of chemicals released through out the year to include pollution prevention activity reporting

Accidental Release Prevention

• CAA Section 112, List of Substances for Accidental Release Prevention

• Published in 40 CFR 68

Accidental Release Prevention

• EPA developed threshold quantities (TQs) identifying substances subject to accident prevention regulations

Accidental Release Prevention

• Having substances at or above their TQ requires a risk management program for accidental release

• The TQ applies to the quantity of substance in a process, not at the facility as a whole

Pollution Prevention

• REDUCE chemical inventories below threshold and release reportable quantities through Pollution Prevention