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 state expects several hundred facility representatives to engage in upcoming meetings. "We may have a couple hundred people come into the LEPC, which initially is going to be very hectic," he said.

Ornelo reviewed LEPC responsibilities, noting the EPA’s catalog of EHS chemicals (he cited about 356 chemicals). He said the statewide committee is developing a process to regionalize how it receives and reviews facility emergency response plans and to coordinate exercises of those plans with municipal fire departments and local emergency responders. He described EPCRA reporting systems and said facility emergency coordinators are expected to be part of the LEPC contact network.

Ornelo also reviewed the Vermont Hazmat Team’s recent year-in-review. He said the team has about 35 hazmat technicians, multiple response trucks and trailers, and specialized equipment that will be phased in. He described equipment and capabilities now or soon available to regional responders: three large enterprise drones capable of carrying gas meters and cameras to measure plumes above ground, multiple decontamination trailers staged statewide (he said there are 17 decon trailers across Vermont), and new portable radiation detectors. Ornelo said the state has approved a full-time position on the state hazmat team to handle much of the LEPC workload; that hire is delayed briefly by a Vermont State HR processing issue.

On incident types and workload, Ornelo summarized 2024 call categories and response patterns for the hazmat team, noting motor-vehicle spills, chemical spills, and underground tank incidents among the most frequent responses. He said the team handles a combination of on-scene rollouts, phone consults for local fire chiefs, and notifications where no deployment is required.

Questions from meeting participants probed local access to Tier II data and who receives Tier II reports. Ornelo said facilities are required to provide Tier II reports to local fire departments and that local departments should receive paper or electronic copies. He also directed participants seeking a full list of EPA-designated EHS chemicals to the EPA website and offered to help participants locate the list.

Why it matters: LEPCs are the local mechanism for coordinating emergency planning around hazardous chemicals. The statewide reorganization changes how municipal fire departments and towns will receive Tier II information and how facility emergency plans will be reviewed.

Ending: Ornelo and other presenters said implementation will take months, with statewide quarterly meetings continuing and the new hazmat staff position expected to begin work once HR processing is complete. The LEPC and Vermont Emergency Management plan follow-up outreach to municipalities and facilities to begin reviewing emergency response plans and scheduling local exercises.

Votes at a glance: - Motion to approve the meeting agenda: moved and seconded; voice vote, motion passed (no nays recorded in transcript). - Motion to approve the minutes of the Dec. 11 meeting: moved by Bob Merlino, seconded by Bob Case; voice vote, motion passed (no nays recorded in transcript).