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  • Chemicals in facility pipelines and the EPCRA transportation exemption

    Section 327 of the Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act (EPCRA) exempts from any Title III reporting requirement (other than the §304 notification obligation) substances or chemicals in transportation and/or being stored incident to transportation. In a final rule promulgated April 22, 1987 ( 52 FR 13378 ), the Agency…

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  • Can members of SERCs and LEPCs be sued?

    What are the liabilities of members of a state emergency response commission and a local emergency planning committee, if an incident is not handled properly despite following procedures developed and reviewed by those commission and committee members? Can the individual members be sued and held liable? The general rule is…

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  • Civil action attorney and court fees, awarding of fines

    A waste treatment facility has a release of chlorine above the reportable quantity. The facility owner or operator did not make initial notification of the release as required under EPCRA Section 304. In addition, the facility owner or operator also refused to submit a written follow-up regarding the release of…

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  • Are evacuations and sheltering-in-place considered for Program 1 eligibility?

    A facility performed a worst-case release scenario and determined that there are no public receptors within the endpoints. There are several residences located just outside the endpoint. In reviewing the five year accident history, there were several releases of a regulated substance, in which the residences were notified by the…

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  • Consolidated List of Chemicals Subject to EPA Programs

    EPA implements a number of regulatory programs that use specific chemical lists as part of the process to determine reporting applicability. Is there a consolidated list of chemicals that are subject to EPA programs? The Consolidated List of Chemicals Subject to the Emergency Planning and Community Right-To-Know Act (EPCRA), Comprehensive…

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  • Public access of Title III documents

    Section 324 of EPCRA addressing the public availability of documents, states that the emergency response plan, material safety data sheet or list submission, Tier I/II, Form R and Section 304 written follow-up notice are to be made available to the public by "the State Emergency Response Commission (SERC), or Local…

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  • What is meant by "molten" and "in solution" when describing extremely hazardous substances?

    To assist state and local officials in the development of emergency response plans, the Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act (EPCRA) requires the owner or operator of each facility at which an extremely hazardous substance (EHS) is present in an amount equal to or exceeding its threshold planning quantity (TPQ)…

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  • Designating a facility subject to emergency planning requirements

    A natural gas distribution facility consists of a series of pipelines and breakout storage tanks. The substances stored at the facility are exempt from all applicable provisions of EPCRA (except Section 304) under the transportation exemption at Section 327. Can such a facility be designated (under the authority of Section…

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  • Program 3 applicability and NAICS code determination

    A covered process that is ineligible for Program 1 will be subject to Program 3 requirements if the process is in one of ten specified North American Industrial Classification System (NAICS) codes, or is subject to the OSHA Process Safety Management (PSM) standard (40 CFR Part 68.10(d)). When determining Program…

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  • Can a newly-constructed process that has no accident history qualify for Program 1 status?

    The eligibility criteria for Program 1 status under 40 CFR Part 68 include a requirement that the process must not have had an accidental release resulting in serious offsite consequences for the past five years (40 CFR §68.10(b)(1)). Can a newly-constructed process that has no accident history qualify for Program…

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  • Are processes subject to delegated state OSHA programs classified as program level 3?

    If my state administers the OSHA program under a delegation from the federal OSHA, does that mean that my processes that are subject to OSHA PSM under the state rules are in Program 3? Yes, as long as the process does not qualify for Program 1. Any process subject to…

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  • Are all covered processes subject to identical risk management program requirements?

    The risk management program regulations in 40 CFR Part 68 are applicable to owners or operators of stationary sources at which more than a threshold quantity of a regulated substance is present in a process (40 CFR Section 68.10(a)). Are all covered processes subject to identical risk management program requirements…

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  • Certifying RMP process at higher program level

    If a process qualifies as Program Level 1, can a facility designate it as a Program Level 2 or 3 in their Risk Management Plan? No. The owner or operator of a stationary source with a process eligible for Program 1 must certify their Program 1 designation in their Risk…

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  • Call Center Support for EPCRA Regulations

    If I have additional questions regarding the EPCRA regulations, who can I contact via telephone for further assistance? You may contact the EPCRA, RMP & Oil Information Center, a publicly accessible service that provides up-to-date information on the regulatory requirements of EPCRA, including the emergency planning, emergency release notification, and…

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  • Finding Your LEPC

    How can individuals find their LEPC? Under the Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act (EPCRA), Local Emergency Planning Committees (LEPCs) must develop an emergency response plan, review the plan at least annually, and provide information about chemicals in the community to citizens. Contact information for LEPCs is available by contacting…

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