Statewide LEPC consolidation prompts Rutland review of hazardous-chemical planning; hazmat team readies new equipment

Bob Ornelo, chair of the statewide Local Emergency Planning Committee (LEPC), told the Rutland County Regional Emergency Management Committee that Vermont moved from 13 local LEPCs to a single statewide LEPC because many smaller committees lacked the capacity to meet federal planning requirements.

Ornelo said the change responds to the Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act (EPCRA) and the statute’s sections 301–303, which establish State Emergency Response Commissions and require local emergency planning, designation of extremely hazardous substances and development of local emergency response plans. "We really weren't performing those responsibilities and didn't have the capacity either to handle those responsibilities," Ornelo said, describing why the state consolidated the local committees.

The nut of the change is practical: facilities that use extremely hazardous substances (EHS) must file Tier II reports and participate in local planning under EPCRA. Ornelo said the LEPC has emailed roughly 1,100 facilities, and the…