EPCRA Reporting

Over the past few posts I have discussed the requirements of Emergency Planning Community Right to Know Act (EPCRA) for both Emergency Planning and Emergency Release Notifications.  In today’s post I am going to tackle part one of the last major section of EPCRA, reporting.  There are three reports required by EPCRA:  Chemical Inventory, Material Safety Data Sheet (MSDS) and Toxic Release Inventory Reporting—today I will focus on the first two.

Hazardous Chemical Storage Reporting (Tier I/Tier II Inventory Report)
EPCRA requires facilities that meet the following threshold requirements to complete and submit by March 1 of each year Tier I or Tier II Inventory Report.

1. Extremely Hazardous Substances (EHS) stored at or above the Threshold Planning Quantity (TPQ) or 500 pounds whichever is lower.  Recall the list of EHS are found in Appendices A and B of 40 CFR 355.
2. Retail gas stations with underground gasoline storage tanks of 75,000 gallons or more.
3. Retail gas stations with underground diesel fuel storage tanks of 100,000 gallons or more.
4. Any hazardous chemical (as defined by OSHA) at or above 10,000 pounds.

In the previous posts of this series I have mentioned the terms EHSs as defined by EPCRA, hazardous substances as defined by CERLCA and today’s term is hazardous chemicals.   The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) defines hazardous chemicals through the Hazard Communications Standard (HCS) in 29 CFR 1910.1200 (this standard has recently changed and the definition of hazardous chemical is changing along with it).  The threshold requirement described in number 4 above includes any material for which an employer is required to maintain an MSDS (now called Safety Data Sheet).  Lead (Pb) is an example of a hazardous chemical that quickly adds up to 10,000 pounds due to its extreme heaviness—most facilities with even a small number of lead acid batteries can trigger this threshold.

Whether a facility submits a Tier I or Tier II Inventory is state dependent.  Most states require Tier II for which the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has developed software, Tier2Submit, to ease the reporting process.  The inventory report must be submitted to the State Emergency Response Commission (SERC), the Local Emergency Planning Committee (LEPC) and the Fire Department that has jurisdiction where the reporting facility is located; and as mentioned earlier the inventory must be submitted annually by March 1.  EPA has created a detailed instruction manual (see resources below) for correctly completing the forms, in addition to giving specific information on how calculations for mixtures should be performed.

MSDS Reporting
This reporting is a one-time EPCRA requirement to submit an MSDS for chemicals stored at or above the four threshold categories discussed above in Chemical Inventory Reporting to the SERC, LEPC and local fire department.  A detailed list of chemicals categorized by hazard class can be submitted in lieu of MSDSs.  The report is required within 3 months of becoming subject to the reporting requirements, any time a facility receives a qualifying material at or above the TPQ an MSDS report is required.

As always, I am leaving you with some resources for further study of this topic.
Lead Acid Battery Report Guidance
http://www.epa.gov/osweroe1/docs/er/Revised-Lead-Acid-Memorandum.pdf

Tier I and Tier II Forms and Instructions
http://www.epa.gov/osweroe1/content/epcra/tier2.htm#inst

Tier2 State Requirements & Software
http://www.epa.gov/osweroe1/content/epcra/tier2.htm

Did this post answer your EPCRA MSDS and Chemical Inventory Reporting Questions?  If not leave a comment below or send me an email at info dot ehscsi.com.  Next I will tackle the TRI Report.