EPA Gives State and Local Governments Authority To Implement Risk Management Programs

A RiskWorld news brief by Mary Bryant
E-mail to bryant@tec-com.com
Around 19 U.S. states, territories, and counties and one tribal government have asked the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to delegate them the authority to implement chemical accidental release prevention programs under Section 112(r)--also called the Risk Management Program rule--of the 1990 Amendments to the Clean Air Act.

"Of these, three have already received delegation: Georgia, the Virgin Islands, and Puerto Rico," said Kate Narburgh of EPA's Chemical Emergency Preparedness and Prevention Office (CEPPO). "Of those remaining, not all have officially requested delegation, but they intend to do so."

EPA is also allowing delegation of risk management programs at the local level, Narburgh said. The agency prefers delegation, including partial delegation, because implementation of the risk management programs is most appropriate at the local level where the risk is.

CAA Section 112(r) requires some 64,000 facilities in the United States to develop risk management programs for preventing accidental releases of dangerous chemicals and to submit their risk management plans (RMPs) to a central location by June 1999. The plans will be electronically available to state and local governments and citizens to help them understand local chemical hazards and take steps to prevent accidents.

Although EPA will collect and review the risk management plans and administer the publicly accessible database that will contain them, state and local agencies can implement other requirements of the program, such as inspection, enforcement, outreach, and technical assistance (see Risk Management Programs Under Clean Air Act Section 112(r): Guidance for Implementing Agencies, http://www.epa.gov/swercepp/pubs/imp-guid/imp_toc.htm).

Revised Timeline for RMP Submittals

The final version of the method and format that facilities will use to electronically submit their risk management plans will be published this month (November 1998) in the Federal Register (search for environmental documents at http://www.epa.gov/fedrgstr/#search).

EPA contracted the development of the software RMP*Submit and RMP*Info for submitting the risk management plans and for accessing RMP information, respectively. The agency plans to have RMP*Submit fully operational by January 4, 1999, and will enter the submitted data as it is received in RMP*Info.

EPA expects RMP*Info to be fully functional by March 1, 1999. The information will be available through Envirofacts Warehouse (http://www.epa.gov/enviro/index_java.html), a web site providing access to EPA environmental databases.

A link to the full development timeline (http://www.epa.gov/swercepp/pubs/timeline.html), which was revised on October 30, 1998, is available on the RMP*Submit and RMP*Info System Development web page (http://www.epa.gov/ceppo/rmp-dev.html).

A bounty of up-to-date information relating to the implementation of Section 112(r) is available on the Internet, starting with the Chemical Emergency Preparedness and Prevention Office web site (http://www.epa.gov/ceppo/).

A telephone "hotline" (http://www.epa.gov/epaoswer/hotline/) that provides current information to a broad audience on several EPA programs can also assist with questions about CAA Section 112(r).

Posted November 4, 1998.

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