"Ensuring Community Safety Through 

Education and Preparedness"

Town of Southborough , Massachusetts

What is the Emergency Planning & Community Right-to-Know Act (EPCRA)?

The Superfund Amendments and Reauthorization Act (SARA) was signed into federal law in 1986. Title III of SARA is EPCRA or the Community Right-to-Know Act.  In response each town/city was required to establish a Local Emergency Planning Committee (LEPC) to develop local plans for hazardous materials incident response, which are used in conjunction with the State to establish a statewide master.

The Community Right-to-Know Act provisions help increase the public's knowledge and access to information on chemicals at individual facilities, their uses, and releases into the environment. States and communities, working with facilities, can use the information to improve chemical safety and protect public health and the environment.

Under this regulation, both small and large businesses are required to plan for possible emergencies and report chemical information to the applicable State Agencies, the Local Emergency Planning Committee (LEPC) and the local fire departments.
For more information, questions or to file an MSDS please contact the EPCRA representative.

Captain Joseph Mauro

Fire Headquarters

21 Main Street

Southborough , MA 01772

(508) 485-3235 Ext. 403

Office Hours:

Mon. – Thurs.

8:00 am – 6:00 pm

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Reporting Requirements: 

Title III can be described as being divided into five major sections.

• Emergency Response Planning Section 302
• Emergency Release Reporting Section 304
• Hazardous Chemical Reporting Sections 311 
• Tier Two - Emergency & Hazardous Chemical Inventory Reporting Section 312
• Toxic Chemical Release Reporting Section 313

Your business facility may be subject to one or all of the sections depending upon the types of chemicals you have the quantities of those chemicals, and your businesses activities.

·        Sara Title III Section 311 Reporting Form

To report a chemical release call 9-1-1 , the National Response Center at 800.424.8802 and your Local Emergency Planning Committee, as appropriate for the chemical released.

Reference Materials
EPCRA 312 Flowchart  

EMERGENCY RESPONSE PLAN  SECTION 302

The Emergency Response Planning provisions require that state and local authorities develop chemical emergency preparedness and response capabilities through better coordination and planning with local businesses. If your business has an Extremely Hazardous Substance (EHS) on-site at any time, in excess of its assigned Threshold Planning Quantity (TPQ), you are required to participate in the local emergency planning process.

Extremely Hazardous Substances are listed TPQs by the EPA based on their potential to cause significant health effects in a single exposure, such as an air release. There are approximately 350 EHSs listed by the EPA. Examples include sulfuric acid with a TPQ of 1,000 pounds and ammonia with a TPQ of 500 pounds for 302 reporting. 

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EMERGENCY RESPONSE PLAN  SECTION 304

Your business facility must notify state and local authorities responsible for local emergency planning if:

• there is a release at your facility (which includes releases from motor vehicles, rolling stock and aircraft) of an Extremely Hazardous Substance (EHS) or a Hazardous Substance (as listed under the Superfund regulations) in excess of the reportable quantity for that substance, and
• the release could result in exposure of persons outside the boundary of the facility site.

The EPA has identified and listed over 700 Hazardous Substances under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act (CERCLA, or the Superfund Program) and has assigned a reportable quantity to each substance. Chemicals on the EHS list have been assigned reportable quantities. Chlorine is an EHS with a reportable quantity of 10 pounds

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EMERGENCY RESPONSE PLAN  SECTION 311

Under Section 311 of Title III, a facility must submit the material safety data sheets (MSDS) or a MSDS list for the hazardous chemicals present on-site in excess of the threshold level to the State Emergency Response Commission (SERC), Local Emergency Planning Committees (LEPCs), and local fire department.

The threshold levels for reporting chemicals are:

·        the threshold planning quantity (TPQ) or 500 pounds at any one time, whichever is less for extremely hazardous substances (EHS);

·        10,000 pounds at any one time for hazardous substances.

This is essentially a one-time submittal unless your chemical or product changes. You must update your submittals to these agencies within 3 months when:

·        There is new information on a hazardous chemical for which you have previously submitted an MSDS, or

·        A new hazardous chemical becomes present at the facility in excess of the threshold planning quantity for the first time.

Your LEPC and/or local fire department may request a MSDS for a hazardous chemical at your facility and you must provide it within 30 days.

The Washington SERC requests that businesses submit a MSDS list of hazardous chemicals and their hazards to the state, rather than copies of the MSDSs. A report form is available at this site under “Reporting Forms & Software”. The list must identify the hazards associated with the chemical or product. The five categories are:

·        Fire hazard

·        Sudden release of pressure

·        Reactivity

·        Immediate or acute health hazard

·        Delayed or chronic health hazard

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EMERGENCY RESPONSE PLAN  SECTION 312

Under Section 312 of Title III, facilities that store chemicals must provide specific information about the chemicals on site, at any one time, to the State Emergency Response Commission (SERC), Local Emergency Planning Committees (LEPCs), and local fire department.

The threshold levels for reporting chemicals stored on site are:

·        the threshold planning quantity (TPQ) or 500 pounds at any one time, whichever is less for extremely hazardous substances (EHS);

·        10,000 pounds at any one time for hazardous substances.

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EMERGENCY RESPONSE PLAN  SECTION 313

Your business must meet ALL of the following criteria to be covered by the requirements of this section for any particular year:

The facility is in one of the covered industries:

·        Manufacturing

·        Federal Facilities

·        Metal and Coal Mining

·        Electric Utilities (burning coal and/or oil for commercial distribution).

·        Commercial Hazardous Waste Treatment facilities (regulated under RCRA Subtitle C)

·        Chemical and Allied Products - Wholesale

·        Petroleum Bulk Terminals and Plants

·        Solvent Recovery Services (fee or contract basis)

The facility manufactured (including imported) or processed or otherwise used a Toxic Chemical in excess of the threshold quantity during the calendar year. Threshold quantities that trigger reporting are 25,000 pounds manufactured or processed or 10,000 pounds otherwise used, except for certain Persistent Bio-accumulative Toxic Chemicals (PBT). Beginning with the 2000 reporting year, the threshold for the PBT chemicals is lowered to 100 or less depending on the chemical.

EPA has developed a list of more than 600 Toxic Chemicals subject to the reporting requirements of Section 313. Get more information from EPA TRI.

To view the TRI data in a user friendly fashion, Ecology and EPA created the Toxic Release Inventory Display System (TRIDS) software. TRIDS displays a given state’s releases of toxic chemicals into the air, land, water, sewers and/or moved off-site, within a given year. Both the TRI data and TRIDS are intended to be used by states, EPA, a broad sector of the public including schools, communities, local governments, tribal governments, environmental groups, and business groups.

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