Division of Emergency Management Digest, Volume 33, Number 5, October-December 1987 Page: 3
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SARA Title III: A Trail of Tiers
by
Mike Scott
Program Manager, DEMThe Ninety-ninth Congress enacted Public Law
99-499, the Superfund Amendments and Reauthoriza-
tion Act of 1986, commonly known as SARA. Title Ill
of that Act, "Emergency Planning and Community
Right-to-Know," requires several actions of local and
state governments as well as industry and other
facilities that use, process, or have present in certain
quantities one or more of over 400 specified extremely
dangerous chemicals. Title Ill was adopted, in part, in
response to the Bhopal, India disaster of December,
1984. That incident demonstrated that certain highly
toxic substances with a high propensity to become air-
borne pose special response problems for com-
munities. The Congress through Title Ill has imposed
many requirements on the states and local jurisdic-
tions; however, funding for chemical-related reporting,
planning, and administration of this national en-
vironmental program have not been appropriated.
The critical question is: How do state and local govern-
ments implement the federal mandates of Title IlIl
without funding and without the disruption of effective
existing emergency planning concepts and established
programs? Let's take a look at the various sections of
the law in a search for solutions. Title Ill has four major
sections: Emergency Planning (301-303), Emergency
Notification (304), Community Right-to-Know Report-
ing Requirements (311,312), and Toxic Chemical
Release Reporting--Emissions Inventory (313).
Sections 301 and 303 create a framework for state
and local emergency contingency planning by requiring
the establishment of a State Emergency Response
Commission, Emergency Planning Districts and Local
Emergency Planning Committees. In many states this
has been accomplished by using existing state agency
organizations and local governmental jurisdictions,
such as the county, as well as existing emergency
management, law enforcement, emergency medical
and fire personnel, etc.
Under Section 301, each Local Emergency Planning
Committee (LEPC) must prepare an Emergency Con-
tingency Plan by October 17, 1988, and revise the
plan annually. It is imperative that the planning com-
pleted for hazardous materials should be accomplished
in conjunction with and as an integral part of other all-
hazard planning. The LEPC should pursue planning in
the multi-hazard functional approach. Coordination
with existing community all-hazard plans is essential in
completing the Title Ill planning requirements in a
meaningful, cost effective, and timely fashion. It wouldbe ill-advised and inefficient to create a plan to deal on-
ly with a single hazard.
The Emergency Release Reporting Requirements (Sec-
tion 304) apply to any facility that uses, produces or
has present a hazardous chemical, including non-
manufacturing, storage and agriculturally-related
facilities. This requirement applies to a large number of
facilities that do not presently fall under the OSHA
Hazard Communication Standards or the annual repor-
ting requirements under Section 311 and 312 of Title
Ill.
Because Title Ill represents a "cut and paste" con-
solidation of the House and Senate versions of the
legislation there is confusion in Section 304, 311, and
312 in that various provisions apply to several lists of
chemicals. This confusion is compounded by additional
federal agency authorities as well as each State's
regulatory requirements.
Through additional federal legislation or by "federal
agency deregulation," the various Title Ill lists can by
simplified to provide a better understanding as to what
type, when and to whom emergency notification
should be made in the case of a reportable spill or
release. The Environmental Protection Agency's July
publication entitled "Title IlIl List of Lists" clarifies the
point that a consolidation and simplification is
necessary.
At the state and local governmental level specific warn-
ing points for any disaster or emergency situation
should be established and notification procedures for
the appropriate emergency personnel provided. Tradi-
tionally, the police or fire department has been the first
notified in the case of an accidental chemical spill or
release. It should be the role of emergency managers to
assure that once an emergency notification is received
that the appropriate local, state and federal personnel
are also notified according to related regulatory re-
quirements.
Under Sections 311 and 312, manufacturing facilities
that use or produce hazardous chemicals must supply a
Material Safety Data Sheet for each such chemical or a
list of chemicals to the state, the Local Emergency
Planning Committee, and local fire department; there
are two reporting "tiers" under Section 312. On
August 24, 1987, the Occupational Safety and Health
Administration extended the scope of its Hazard Com-
munications Standard to an estimated 3 million non-0
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Texas. Division of Emergency Management. Division of Emergency Management Digest, Volume 33, Number 5, October-December 1987, periodical, October 1987; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1033208/m1/4/?q=%221987-23%22: accessed July 16, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting UNT Libraries Government Documents Department.