Rome-Floyd County LEPC

1. Rome-Floyd CountyLEPC November 2010

2. ci·vil·ian • (sĭ-vĭl'yən)n. • A person following the pursuits of civil life, especially one who is not an active member of the military, the police, or a belligerent group. • A person who does not belong to a particular group or engage in a particular activity. • A specialist in Roman or civil law.

3. LEPC • Local Emergency Planning Committees (LEPCs) are planning entities created by state and local governments in response to the federal EPCRA.

4. LEPC Duties • Must develop a chemical emergency response plan • Review it at least annually • Provide information about chemicals in the community to citizens. •  Develop plans with stakeholder participation.

5. The LEPC membership must include : • Elected state and local officials • Police, fire, civil defense, and public health professionals • Environment, transportation, and hospital officials • Facility representatives • Representatives from community groups and the media

6. Purpose: develop, maintain and improve guidelines among the member organizations for mutual assistance, cooperation and assemble the necessary equipment and material to combat emergency incidents. R-FC LEPC Bylaws

7. R-FC LEPC Bylaws Membership • Public and private organizations operating in or about Floyd County • Or those with a related operational interest in the committee • Any member may withdraw with 15 day written notice

8. R-FC LEPC Bylaws • One representative of each member organization. • Each member may designate 2 alternates • Chair and Vice Chair to serve 1 year or successive terms. • Secretary and Treasurer should be appointed. All to be appointed in January. • One meeting per quarter at minimum with minimum of 10 business days advance notice.

9. R-FC LEPC Bylaws • Consider and adopt a public relations contingency plan with spokesperson to represent the committee to the media • May create standing or temporary subcommittees to address specific areas of concern. • Decisions on operations, policy and bylaws and expenditures of the Committee shall be by vote: (51% =quorum) of voting members. • Rules and procedures amended from time to time by a majority action of the membership.

10. R-FC LEPC Bylaws Procedure: • Chairperson to assemble and maintain lists with assistance of members: • Material and equipment each is willing to make available to members in the event of an emergency • Personnel – voluntarily supplied if specialized equipment is supplied

11. R-FC LEPC Bylaws Procedure: • Authorized Contact Lists - names, titles, telephone numbers of responsible personnel authorized to request /release material and equipment. • Other sources of material and equipment- members should prepare and maintain similar lists and contacts of known available resources

12. Community role in EPCRA • What is EPCRA? • The Emergency Planning and Community Right-To-Know Act, is also known as SARA Title III. • EPCRA was passed by U.S. Congress in 1986 after a chemical disaster in Bhopal, India, raised concerns about a lack of planning and preparation for a similar accident in America.

13. Community role in EPCRA • EPCRA is designed to inform communities about chemicals and chemical hazards present and transported in the community, involve the community in developing emergency planning and response, in helping identify facilities that might be subject to the law, and assuring implementation of the EPCRA law.

14. Community role in EPCRA • Facilities that have spilled hazardous substances, or that store, use, or release certain chemicals are subject to various reporting requirements. • All of this information is made publicly available so that interested parties may become informed about potentially dangerous chemicals in their community.

15. Ideal elements of a community emergency response plan (EPA) • Identify facilities and routes of extremely hazardous substances • Develop emergency response procedures, on and off site • Communication between community and facility emergency coordinators to implement the plan • Develop emergency notification procedures • Decide on method to determine the probable affected area and population .

16. Ideal elements of a community emergency response plan (EPA) • List emergency equipment and facilities and the persons responsible for them • Develop outline of evacuation plans • Develop and maintain a training program for emergency responders • Develop methods for exercising emergency response plans

17. Accidents Do Happen • A chemical accident is reported in the United States an average of 21 times a day. • One in twenty of the chemical accidents that occurred in the United States resulted in immediate injuries, evacuations or deaths.

18. HMEP GRANTS • U.S. Department of Transportation to make grants to states to help fund hazmat-related planning and training activities. • The HMEP Grants program’s authorizing legislation requires that state grantees pass at least 75 percent of all Planning funds received to LEPCs.

19. HMEP funding • This can take place via disbursement of Training funds to LEPCs, but is more commonly achieved by allocating the funds to one or more state-level training providers, such as the state fire academy, which then offers training courses to local responders. • USDOT $ maybe available for FSE w/ Hazmat

20. What is Synergy? The cooperative action of discrete organizations such that the total effect is greater than the sum of the two effects taken independently;