and Community Right-to-Know Act: EPCRA
In 1986, in response to
a growing concern for safety around chemical facilities, the U.S.
Congress enacted the Superfund Amendments and Reauthorization Act
(SARA) Title III. Additionally, the State of Florida passed the
Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act (EPCRA), F.S.
252, Part II.
The intent of these laws
is to encourage emergency planning efforts at the State and Regional
levels and to increase the public's access to information about
the potential chemical hazards that may exist in their communities.
These laws have a far-reaching influence on issues relating to the
manufacture, use, exposure, transportation, and public education
of hazardous materials.
EPCRA is implemented by
the established State Emergency Response Commission (SERC) and the
Local Emergency Planning Committees (LEPC).
State Emergency Response Commission: SERC
The SERC is responsible
for implementing the provisions of EPCRA in Florida and serving
as a technical advisor and information clearinghouse for state and
federal hazardous materials programs. The Division of Emergency
Management (DEM) is the lead agency responsible for implementing
EPCRA and provides staff support to the SERC.
The Commission conducts
quarterly public meetings in varying locations throughout the state.
Currently, SERC membership comprises 23 Governor-appointed individuals
who represent the interests of state and local government, emergency
services, industry and the environment. The link below provides
the most recent SERC Annual Report.
Planning Committee: LEPC
There are 11 LEPCs in the
State of Florida. The Northeast Florida area is designated as District
IV and is comprised of the following counties: Baker, Clay, Duval,
Flagler, Nassau, Putnam, and St. Johns.
Under the Emergency Planning and Community Right-To-Know Act,
the LEPC is responsible for preparing a regional hazardous materials
emergency response plan, serves as a repository for regional hazardous
materials information, and performs outreach functions to increase
hazardous materials awareness.
Members of the LEPC consist of local professional from a variety
of occupational categories such as firefighting, law enforcement,
emergency management, health, environmental, transportation, local
officials, facility owners/operators, etc.
LEPC District IV meetings are regularly scheduled to occur once
every quarter on the second Wednesday of the month at 10:00 am.
All meetings are open to the public and are advertised in the
Florida Administrative Weekly and the Florida Times-Union.
Emergency Preparedness Grant: HMEP
Hazardous Materials Emergency Preparedness (HMEP) grant program
is intended to provide financial and technical assistance as well
as national direction and guidance to enhance State, Territorial,
Tribal, and local hazardous materials emergency planning and training.
The HMEP Grant Program distributes fees collected from shippers
and carriers of hazardous materials to emergency responders for
hazardous materials training and to LEPCs for hazardous materials
for Emergency Responders
The District IV LEPC provides Hazardous Materials training to
local first responders and public sector employees. Please contact
LEPC staff for a full list of upcoming training opportunities
throughout our region.
Each year the LEPC District IV selects a planning project to undertake
for the year. The options include: Commodity Flow Study, Community
Workshops and Section 302 Facility Outreach, Local Emergency Planning
Committee Plan Exercise, Quality Control of Submitted Tier II
Information, Facility Hazards Analysis Summary, Section 302 Facility
Outreach, Shelter in Place Education Enhancement, On-Site Assessment
of or Needs Assessment Survey for Hazardous Materials Rapid Response
• Tier II
Chemical Inventory Reporting
The LEPC acts as a regional repository for facilities that store
hazardous materials. The facilities are required to submit their
inventory of certain chemicals that meet or exceed a certain quantity
to the SERC, the LEPC, and local fire department.
Under EPCRA, the report
must be submitted annually no later than March 1st. Facilities
that must submit Tier II Chemical Inventory Reports include all
types of businesses and facilities that store and use hazardous
• How to
LEPC Staff conducts annual workshops for chemical facilities to
review facilities’ reporting requirements under EPCRA.
to Comply Manual: http://floridadisaster.org/hazmat/SERC/htc1.htm
Hazardous Materials Information System:
FL HMIS enables chemical facilities to electronically submit
their information to the SERC, LEPC, and local fire department.
E-Plan is an electronic database of those facilities
that have submitted their Tier II Chemical Inventory Report.
First responders, emergency managers, and hazardous materials
planners can access this information to determine the types
of chemicals, their reported quantities, their location on-site,
and the associated hazards.
The Northeast Florida Regional Council performs the Hazards Analysis
for five counties: Baker, Clay, Nassau, Putnam, and St. Johns.
Data is collected through site visits to the facilities, which
includes emergency contact information, chemical types and quantities,
storage methods, identifying major transportation routes, and
reviewing historical accident records. The information is entered
into a database called Computer Aided Management of Emergency
Operations (CAMEOfm v2.2). CAMEO is used to access, store, and
evaluate information critical for developing emergency plans.
The CAMEO system integrates a chemical database and a method to
manage the data, an air dispersion model, and a mapping capability.
• Hazardous Waste
The Council assists two counties, Baker and Nassau, by conducting
site inspections for the Small Quantity Generators (SQG) of Hazardous
Waste program. Hazardous waste, as defined by 40 CFR Part 261,
Subpart D, includes four characteristics: ignitability, corrosivity,
reactivity, or toxicity. Facilities that generate hazardous waste
in certain amounts, between 100 to 1,000 kilograms per month,
fall into the category of a Small Quantity Generator and must
comply with requirements regarding the storage, disposal, transportation,
and handling of the waste.
Eric Anderson, Regional Planner
Ph: (904) 279-0885 ext. 178