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  • How did states form their SERCs?

    How are States expected to form their State Emergency Response Commission (SERC) as required under Title III? States are required to establish a State Emergency Response Commission (SERC) under Title III. The SERC may consist of existing emergency response organizations or may be an entirely new mechanism to address this…

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  • Pesticide applicator quantity applied to threshold or transportation exemption

    A farmer contracts with an applicator to spray pesticides on his fields. The applicator drives a tank truck onto the farmers' field and sprays the pesticide from the truck onto the fields. For purposes of Section 302 emergency planning requirements, are the EHSs in the truck considered present at the…

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  • Section 302 notification requirements and mixtures with unknown components

    Are facilities exempt from Section 302 notification requirements if they produce, use, or store mixtures whose extremely hazardous substance component information is not available on the MSDS provided by the manufacturer? If the facility which produces, uses, or stores mixtures knows or reasonably should know the components of the mixture…

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  • State refusing to comply with the emergency planning provisions

    What will happen if a State refuses to comply with the emergency planning provisions? A governor who does not designate a State emergency response commission becomes the commission by default. While the governor could choose not to fulfill any of the Title III provisions, the public could still request information…

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  • What is a reactive and non-reactive solid EHS?

    Reactive solid means any extremely hazardous substance denoted with “a” in the “Notes” column in Appendix A or B of 40 CFR 355. Reactive solids are more likely than other solids to be dispersed into the air due to the energy or heat created from their reactivity with water or…

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  • Reporting responsibility under EPCRA §302 for a facility with several unrelated companies?

    A public warehouse is used by several unrelated companies to store extremely hazardous substances (EHSs). For purposes of emergency planning notification, who is responsible, under EPCRA Section 302, for notifying the State Emergency Response Commission if a threshold planning quantity (TPQ) of an EHS is present at the warehouse? The…

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  • TPQ calculations for hazardous substances in molten form

    Facilities are subject to emergency planning and notification requirements under EPCRA (also known as SARA Title III) when an extremely hazardous substance (EHS) is present at a facility in an amount equal to or in excess of its TPQ. For some EHSs that are solids, two TPQs are given (e.g…

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  • Can states designate liquified petroleum gas facilities under Section 302

    Does the statute allow the state to designate facilities which produce, use, or store certain quantities of liquified petroleum gas as emergency planning facilities? EPA considers the designation of additional facilities to be accomplished through naming individual sites or companies, or by designation of certain classes of facilities as newly…

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  • Transportation exemption and EPCRA emergency planning

    To what extent is an LEPC/TEPC required to plan if there are only a few (or no) facilities having extremely hazardous substances present in excess of threshold planning quantities, but there is significant interstate transportation of these and other hazardous substances? While Section 327 of Title III generally exempts the…

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  • Applicability of EPCRA §§302 and 304 to EHSs produced on-site

    If an extremely hazardous substance is not stored on-site but is produced in a process such as incineration, is it exempt from both threshold planning quantity calculation and release reporting if the release is covered by a Clean Air Act permit? If the hazardous substance is produced on-site in a…

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  • Calculating EHS quantities within landfills

    How are the quantities of the extremely hazardous substances (EHSs) to be calculated in determining if landfills are subject to the section 302 requirements? EPA realizes the practical problems presented for landfills in complying with the Title III requirements. Owners of these facilities must determine, based on reasonably available information…

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  • Can state and local laws supersede EPCRA?

    Can existing state and local laws that provide substantially similar emergency planning supersede the specific provisions of the federal law? Title III (Section 321) generally provides that nothing in Title III shall preempt or affect any state or local law. However, material safety data sheets, if required under a state…

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  • Local Emergency Planning Committee request of notification for exempt chemicals

    Under Section 312 , if a local emergency planning committee requests a Tier I/II from a facility owner/operator for a substance which is exempt (either under EPCRA, Section 311(e), or the OSHA Hazardous Communication Standard, 29 CFR 1910.1200(b)) , are they required to comply with the request? If the LEPC…

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  • Primary purpose of Section 302 notification requirements

    What is the primary purpose of Section 302 notification requirements? Notifications indicating that a facility has one or more extremely hazardous substances in excess of the threshold planning quantity help to identify locations within the State where emergency planning activities can be initially focused. While the substances on the list…

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