EPCRA

Congress passed EPCRA after serious chemical accidents raised questions about how well communities were prepared. It set up state emergency response commissions and local emergency planning committees, and it gave citizens access to information about chemicals in their area.

The law has four main parts. Sections 301 to 303 deal with emergency planning and use threshold planning quantities for extremely hazardous substances. Section 304 requires notice of releases that meet or exceed a reportable quantity. Section 311 and 312 cover the supply of SDSs and the annual Tier II inventory. Section 313 created the Toxics Release Inventory.

These parts work together. Planning identifies what hazards a community faces, notification brings responders in during an emergency, inventory reporting tells them what is stored, and TRI makes release and waste data public.

EPCRA is separate from OSHA's HazCom standard, but they overlap. The same SDSs required for workers support the reporting under EPCRA, and the same facility staff often handle both. Hazard categories on Tier II forms are based on the hazard classification used in HazCom.

States and local governments can add their own requirements, so a facility should confirm what applies in its location. Penalties for missing reports can be significant, and the information is public in many cases.