Local Emergency Planning Committee (LEPC)
In 1986 Congress passed the Emergency Planning and Community
Right-to-Know Act, Public Law 99-499, commonly known as EPCRA
or SARA Title III. Section 301(a) of the legislation required
each governor to appoint a state emergency response commission
(SERC)
April of 1987. Section 301(b) charged the SERCs with the responsibility
of dividing the states into planning districts and Section
301(c) for appointing local emergency planning committees (LEPCs).
In 1987, the Massachusetts State Emergency Response Commission,
in compliance with the new legislation, designated each MEMA
sub-area as planning districts and appointed a Local Emergency
Planning Committee for each city and town within them.
* Develop a response plan for hazardous material incidents.
* Annual review of the plan
* Training for emergency responders (police, fire, emergency
medical services, public works, etc.) At a minimum, first responders
must be trained to the awareness level.
* The emergency response plan must be exercised at least once
a year.
* The committee must create a system to collect, store,
and respond to Public
Requests
* Elected and local officials
* Law enforcement
* Civil
Defense
* Firefighting
* EMS
* Health
* Local environmental and transportation agencies;
* Hospitals;
* Broadcast and print media;
* Community groups; and Representatives of facilities subject
to the emergency planning and community right-to-know requirements.
Facilities subject to the requirements of the EPCRA must annually
submit documentation of their inventory of hazardous materials
in the previous calendar year. These reports must be submitted
prior to April 1. Among the information in the documents is
facility name, contact person, name(s) of material, amount
of material, storage methods etc.
It is important to remember that many of these items are used
on a daily basis throughout the country in large quantities
without incident. However it is the responsibility of the town
to have the emergency responders and the community as a whole
prepared for any incident that may occur.
The Lincoln Fire Department has recently joined with four
other LEPC's (Weston, Wayland, Concord, Sudbury), to explore
the formation of a regional LEPC to more efficiently service
the area.
New - Emergency Response Guide - April 23, 2008
