TOWN OF BRAINTREE
LOCAL EMERGENCY PLANNING COMMITTEE
(LEPC)
History of the LEPC:
On December 11, 1980, Congress enacted the Comprehensive Environmental Response,
Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA), commonly known as Superfund. This law created a
tax on the chemical and petroleum industries and provided broad Federal authority to
respond directly to releases or threatened releases of hazardous substances that may
endanger public health or the environment.
The Superfund Amendments and Reauthorization Act (SARA) amended the CERCLA on October 17,
1986. As part of SARA, Congress passed the Emergency Planning & Community
Right-To-Know Act (EPCRA) as the national legislation on community safety. This law was
designated to help local communities protect public health, safety, and the environment
from chemical hazards.
To implement EPCRA, Congress required governors in each state to appoint a State Emergency
Response Commission (SERC). Thereafter, the SERC's were required to divide their states
into Emergency Planning Districts and to appoint a Local Emergency Planning Committee
(LEPC) for each city and town.
In short, the basic function's by law include:
1. Continue to update the
Comprehensive Emergency Management Plan for the community;
2. To receive information about accidental releases;
3. To collect, manage and provide public access to information on chemical
hazards within the community;
4. To educate the public about the risks from accidental and routine releases
of chemicals and work with hazardous material facilities to minimize the risks to the
public.
Overview of the LEPC:
The role and responsibility of the LEPC can
be summarized as follows:
An emergency plan must be written for
responding to a hazardous material incident within the community, and this plan must be
reviewed, exercised and updated annually.
Emergency responders (police, fire,
emergency medical services, public works, etc.) must be trained to appropriate levels
indicated in the plan.
The LEPC must create a system to collect,
store, and respond to public requests.
The LEPC must consist of representatives of
all of the following groups and organizations to ensure that all necessary elements of the
planning process are represented:
Page 2 RE: LEPC notes:
- Elected state and
local officials, Police Department, Emergency Management,
Fire Department, Health
Department, Schools, Public Works Department, Public
Information Officer,
Ambulance Services, Hospitals, broadcast and print media,
local environmental and
community groups, and industrial facilities.
LEPC's are certified by SERC, to ensure that
they are meeting all of the goals and missions of SARA. The levels of certification are as
follows:
PROVISIONAL:
This certification requires that the committee meet most of the criteria set forth in
legislation and application process, and by exercising the plan in tabletop format.
The committee would be eligible for funding to meet the remaining application needs only,
and certification would be valid for two years.
FULL:
This certification requires that the committee meet all of the criteria set forth in
legislation and application process, and would be in compliance with all relevant SARA
regulations and SERC directives. Full scale exercises of the emergency response plan would
have to be satisfactorily demonstrated for this certification.
Certification is valid for three years, and would provide the committee the ability to
apply for limited funding and reimbursement grants.
Town of Braintree LEPC:
The Town of Braintree established its first LEPC in 1987 and continued through 1989, at
which time it dissolved. It was re-activated in November 2001, after the September 11,
2001 incident, at which time the Board of Selectmen appointed the Fire Chief as the LEPC
emergency response coordinator.
Since that time, the committee has worked diligently to complete start-up, provisional and
full certification levels.
We continue to work with the facilities and community and demonstrate the effectiveness of
the Town of Braintree CEMP. |