S. 880, What Do I Do Now?


		AcuSafe -> September 1999 Newsletter
		S. 880, What Do I Do Now?

The President signed bill S.880; the Chemical Safety Information, Site Security, and Fuels Regulatory Relief Act, effective 8/5/99, which places a one-year moratorium on the Internet dissemination of information about potential hazards at 66,000 facilities handling toxic chemicals. S.880 sets guidelines for access to Offsite Consequence Analysis information required under the Clean Air Act. The legislation also requires that EPA “not list a flammable substance when used as a fuel or held for sale as a fuel at a retail facility” in the list of chemicals covered by the Risk Management Program. In essence, this removes propane used as fuel from the list – making it similar to OSHA’s fuel exclusion. Click on Government Printing Office Page for a copy of the legislation and Fact Sheet.

Only a handful of facilities have had the public meetings required by Article 4 of S-880. So how do you comply by February 2, 2000? One way is to meet with your City Council or Planning Commission. They often times will have a public comment session. Better yet, ask to be placed on the agenda of their next meeting as an “information item.” Maybe you’ve already met with your Local Emergency Planning Commission – often these are public meetings and you may have met the requirement of the law. Still another avenue is to have an “Open House” at your facility to discuss the RMP. And after the meeting, you must certify to the FBI that you have done this.

The EPA has issued some guidance on how to best comply with the law via Questions and Answers. These were posted September 9, 1999 at http://www.epa.gov/swercepp/pubs/newlawqa.html. But State administrators are wrestling with what to do with their copies of the Federal EPA submission because of the criminal penalties for releasing Federal OCA data that they may be obliged to release under State regulations! Expect this to be a big topic for discussion at the September 22, 1999 RMP Implementation Workgroup conference call. We will report a summary of that call in a future issue of AcuSafe News.

So, compliance is up to you! As long as there is “notice,” “meeting,” “public,” and “self certification,” you have met the congressional requirement. You should be sure to send a letter to the FBI by June 5, 2000 stating that you have complied with the law. Our friend, Carole Macko at EPA, indicates that the FBI is working on a central address so the local FBI offices don’t get confused when they get your letter. Keep a copy of the letter you sent in your RMP files in the event of an EPA compliance audit.