Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
among federal agencies, the preparation of Federal Contingency Plans. The NCP
also establishes the authority of the federal government to initiate removal actions
at hazardous waste sites.
When the Bhopal disaster occurred in India in 1984, and some 3,800 people
died as a result of the toxic release of methyl isocyanate gas, it became quickly
apparent that no contingency plans existed in the United States to deal with
similar emergencies, and that this type of extreme events involving an indus-
trial toxic gas release had not been not considered in the NCP at the time. In
the wake of the Bhopal tragedy and other accidental chemical releases, public
concern escalated dramatically. This became even more acute with the advent
of environmental regulations that sought to identify the magnitude of the release
of hazardous substances to the environment. As a result, the public continued to
demand protection, and the Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know
Act (EPCRA), Title III of the Superfund Amendments and Reauthorization Act
(SARA) of October 1986, was the outcome.
1
The onus of Title III is on states
and local communities to develop plans for responding to hazardous materials
emergencies. Although legislation such as EPCRA is intended to protect the
public, others are focused on the protection of workers in the workplace. The
Occupational Safety and Health Administration's (OSHA) Hazard Communica-
tion Standard, or Worker Right-to-Know, became fully effective in May 1986 and
amended as of February 13, 1996.
2
Its purpose is to ensure that employees are
aware of hazards in the workplace. Additional federal regulation, that is, OSHA
1910.120 - Hazardous Waste Operations and Emergency Response, often referred
to as HAZWOPER, became effective in March 1990.
3
It mandates emergency
response and preparedness programs for industry, including required interface
activities with off-site agencies and prompt notification to them of an emer-
gency situation. It also requires health and safety training for all individuals
involved with emergency response and investigation and remediation of haz-
ardous waste sites and spills. HAZWOPER applies to five distinct groups of
employees and their employers, which are clean-up operations, corrective actions
at RCRA facilities, voluntary clean-up at any site covered by a federal, state, or
local environmental action, operations involved with treatment, storage, and dis-
posal of hazardous waste, and emergency response actions. Companies must have
a written emergency action plan in place to comply with 29 CFR 1910.38,
4
and
an employee alarm plan per 29 CFR 1910.165.
5
Some states have even more prescriptive regulations. New Jersey's and
Delaware's Toxic Catastrophe Prevention Acts (TCPA)
6
are examples. In
addition to the sudden release of a substance, environmental emergencies can
take on other forms. The discovery of a leaking underground tank or a number
of buried drums requires a response that seeks to protect human health or the
environment, particularly when the release threatens a water supply or a fragile
ecosystem. The response to these situations involves equally important planning
activities among federal, state, and local groups.
