TOWN OF FRAMINGHAM

MASSACHUSETTS

 

Framingham Local Emergency Planning Committee

Deputy Fire Chief John McGuigan, Chairman

Framingham Fire Department 

10 Loring Drive, Framingham, MA  01702

508-620-4950

 

 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

 

 

Annual Chemical Inventories Are Due March 1

 

The annual chemical inventory reports for facilities that handle and store hazardous materials is due to be submitted March 1, to the Framingham Local Emergency Planning Committee.

 

These inventories, called Tier II Reports, are required to be filed by facilities that handle or store chemicals and hazardous materials by the federal Emergency Planning and Community Right to Act (EPCRA). The reports are to be submitted annually, for the previous calendar year, to Local Emergency Planning Committees (LEPC), local fire department, and the State Emergency Response Commission (SERC).

 

This information is utilized by the Framingham Local Emergency Planning Committee in updating the Town’s Hazardous Material Emergency Response Plan..  The law also requires the LEPC to make the information on hazardous materials available to the community.

 

Framingham LEPC Chair, Deputy Fire Chief John McGuigan, stressed that it is not only chemical plants that fall under the reporting requirements of this law. In addition to manufacturers, wholesale and retail business, municipal and other governmental facilities, laboratories, and educational institutions are required to report. Any type of facility that stores over 1,600 gallons of fuel oil in underground or aboveground tanks is required to submit an inventory report. This includes tanks for fuel used for building heating or emergency power generators.

 

In 1999, the requirements that apply to retail gasoline stations were amended. The reporting thresholds were increased to 75,000 for gasoline and 100,000 gallons for diesel fuel. The retail gasoline station must be in full compliance with state underground storage tank (UST) regulations and have previously filed Tier II reports with the LEPC. If there has been a change in the quantities stored, station management or emergency contacts during the year, a new Tier II Report is required to be submitted to the LEPC. This amendment does not apply to gasoline or diesel fuel tanks used for private fleets, annual reporting is required for  this fuel storage. 

 

Under the law, the US Environmental Protection Agency may levy fines of up to $27,500 per day on facilities having regulated chemicals above the minimum thresholds that fail to submit the annual inventory reports.

 

The Tier II reports, that were formerly submitted as paper forms, are now required to be submitted to the LEPC and the SERC on computer disk. The Tier 2 Windows Version 3.0 software is available to be downloaded from the Internet at www.epa.gov/ceppo.

 

Reports are to be submitted on disk by March 1, to the Framingham Local Emergency Planning Committee c/o Framingham Fire Department, 10 Loring Drive, Framingham MA 01702. The SERC filings are to be sent to the Massachusetts State Emergency Response Commission, Mass. Emergency Management Agency, PO Box 1496, Framingham, MA  01701-0317 

 

Additional information on reporting requirements is available from the US Environmental Protection Agency Region I EPCRA Team at (617) 918-1832.