Rep. Graber’s bill would have DOGAMI model seismically induced hazmat plumes for emergency managers

Representative Dacia Graber told the House Committee on Emergency Management, General Government, and Veterans that House Bill 3492 with the dash 1 amendment directs the Oregon Department of Geology and Mineral Industries (DOGAMI) to study risks related to earthquake‑induced hazardous‑material releases and model toxic plume dispersion scenarios.

Rep. Graber said the goal is to compile impartial risk models — by season, weather pattern and regional geography — so local emergency managers can incorporate the results into preplanned response actions. She told the committee the study is intended to “strengthen our public safety by compiling these risk modeling scenarios into an impartial report and sharing it with relevant emergency management teams for incorporation into their local emergency response plans.”

John Apapa, Oregon State Resilience Officer, testified that the project would “bring together data that already exists in the state but in a lot of different locations” and would produce actionable modeling for local emergency managers who lack the capacity to combine geological hazard data, structural design data and air‑dispersion modeling. He said the work would allow emergency managers to avoid locating casualty collection points, shelters or evacuation routes in areas likely to experience a hazardous plume after an earthquake.

Christina Appleby, legislative coordinator for DOGAMI, said DOGAMI has experience producing geologic hazard maps and risk assessments and would likely contract additional expertise (for example, structural engineering and plume modeling) to produce a usable study for local emergency managers.

The dash 1 amendment clarifies the study’s scope, permits facilities that have already coordinated with local emergency managers to be exempted from a site‑specific report, and sets a confidentiality and redaction process: DOGAMI’s site‑specific report will be shared confidentially with the State Resilience Officer (SRO), who — with the Department of Emergency Management and the SRO — will identify material that must remain confidential for homeland‑security reasons, then give affected facilities a reasonable opportunity to request redactions before the remainder is released to local emergency managers.

Committee members praised the negotiated confidentiality procedures and asked DOGAMI and the SRO to highlight replicable industry practices that reduce risk.