EPA Unveils Plan on Chemical Accidents

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency unveiled a draft of a national chemical-emergency preparedness program Monday and urged local governments across the nation to voluntarily adopt it, warning that lives could be at risk in the event of a Bhopal-type disaster.

In announcing the draft during a national satellite-TV hookup, the EPA also confirmed that it has identified an estimated 400 acutely toxic chemicals found throughout the country that could pose a serious health risk in the event of their accidental release into the atmosphere, even if the exposure is short-term.

The voluntary EPA program, part of a national strategy developed in the wake of major chemical accidents in Bhopal, India, and Institute, W. Va., comes at a time when California has made such preparations mandatory.

Heavy Fines

Gov. George Deukmejian last September signed a bill by Assemblywoman Maxine Waters (D-Los Angeles) that requires the state’s 58 counties and most businesses and industry to prepare emergency response plans. Unlike the EPA proposal, the state law sets deadlines for putting the plans into effect. Businesses that fail to comply could be fined up to $25,000 a day upon conviction on a first offense and $50,000 a day on the second offense.

Still, state officials said Monday they welcomed the EPA’s proposal and said the identification of 400 potentially hazardous chemicals, as well as the agency’s offer to provide technical assistance in developing state and local response plans, would be helpful.

The list of acutely toxic chemicals, to be completed in December, will enable local communities to focus their attention on the chemicals in their midst posing the greatest potential danger and then develop emergency response plans geared to local needs.

The plan stressed that major accidental releases of these chemicals into the air are “infrequent” and that releases that cause death are “very infrequent.”

Still, EPA Administrator Lee Thomas warned Monday that there are “serious health effects (from) short-term exposure to a single high-level accidental emission.”

No U.S. Financing

Some critics of the EPA program, which provides no funding for local governments but does offer technical assistance and some training, charged the EPA with avoiding responsibilities by placing the burden of emergency response on local governments when a concerted national effort is required.

During the call-in portion of the satellite broadcast, Debra Sheiman of the Natural Resources Defense Council told EPA officials, “We’re concerned the EPA is focusing exclusively on telling locals how to function after (the accidents) occur.”

She said the EPA’s list of 400 acutely toxic chemicals was tantamount to telling residents to “head for the hills,” and asked, “Why isn’t the EPA taking steps to contain and stop releases?”

James Makris, deputy director of the EPA’s hazardous response support division, replied that the EPA proposal should “sensitize everyone to a higher level of emergency readiness.”

Davis Bernstein, an EPA official who was in Los Angeles to participate in the conference, told reporters, “The agency wants to keep it a local responsibility because that’s where the response capability lies.” He added, “In my mind I would say California’s again out in front.”

A key problem, however, is coordinating emergency efforts in the event that a toxic plume of chemicals spreads across local government jurisdictional lines.

Several months ago, that issue became apparent after a preliminary study by the South Coast Air Quality Management District. The district study found that there is no lead agency in charge in the event of a regionwide chemical disaster.

Red Cross Official

The problem of jurisdictional authority appears to be widespread. Robert Vessey, director of disaster operations for the American Red Cross who was speaking in Washington, observed, “The debate continues over various roles and responsibilities, but the fact remains that the (threat) exists.”

Capt. Jim Adamson , who heads the Los Angeles County Fire Department’s petrochemical division, told reporters that the department is now taking an inventory of dangerous chemicals in all unincorporated areas of the county.

Under Waters’ bill, counties are given the primary responsibility for developing emergency response plans. A city may by ordinance assume responsibility for carrying out its own emergency response plan and have exclusive jurisdiction within the city limits. However, cities must coordinate their activities with the county to avoid misunderstandings and duplication of efforts.