The Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act of 1986 (EPCRA), was developed to provide communities with important information about the hazardous substances in use at companies so they can plan for possible emergencies involving them. EPCRA is also known as SARA (Superfund Amendments and Reauthorization Act) Title III. EPCRA’s four components are in place to inform communities of the potentially hazardous chemicals in their communities.
- Emergency planning is covered in EPCRA sections 301-303 and specifies the details of what must be covered in these plans. Facilities must notify the LEPC and SERC within 60 days if they have any of the 356 extremely hazardous substances listed in the Code of Federal Regulations (40 CFR 355) in amounts above the threshold planning quantities listed for each substance.
- Section 304 addresses emergency notification and the reportable quantities for the 356 extremely hazardous substances, as well as more than 700 hazardous substances subject to emergency notification requirements under Section 103(a) of CERCLA.
- Community right-to-know requirements under EPCRA apply to facilities meeting certain thresholds, and requires regulated facilities to submit information to their Local Emergency Planning Committee and file Tier I/II reports annually.
- Section 313, Toxic Release Inventory Reporting, applies to facilities that fall under certain Standard Industrial classification (SIC) codes and employ ten or more people and manufacture or process more than 25,000 pounds, or otherwise use more than 10,000 pounds of a listed toxic chemical during any calendar year.