MINUTES
The Hazardous Materials Emergency Response Commission met on
Members Present:
Kenny Harmon for David Maxwell, Arkansas Department of Emergency Management
John Ward for Teresa Marks, Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality
Scotty Bell, Virco Manufacturing
James Burns, Clark
Garnet Wise, Industrial Representative
Dave
Chief Ben Blankenship,
Captain Paul Claunch,
Mrs. Terri Franks,
Members Absent:
Major Stanley
John Brackin,
Rachel Nix,
Others Present:
Melissa Hudson, Ark. Department of Emergency Management
Franks called the meeting to order at
Harmon referred everyone to the handouts he distributed
showing training that is updated weekly on the ADEM web site. From
He announced the annual Hot Zone Conference will be held
October 17-21 in
an even larger number is expected this year. He said the number of scholarships for
Arkansas Tech students this year will be five, the same as last year. The students are required to submit a report
on their attendance and he recently received copies of the reports from last
year’s conference. He added that because
of its popularity a lot more people from
The NASTTPO/HMEP Midyear (National Association of SARA Title
III Program Officials) which is always in
He stated that although last year’s Region VI LEPC
conference was hosted in
A question was asked if evaluation forms are filled out
after each of the emergency management classes.
Harmon said that most but not all of the classes are evaluated, but the
majority of the evaluations received are rated outstanding. If he receives a complaint about an
instructor he will have the class evaluated, and has quit using one instructor
because of the number of complaints received.
He said most of the training in the state has been conducted in an area
north of a line between
A resolution was distributed from the Arkansas State Fire
Fighters Association (ASFFA) for training and recertification requirements for
haz-mat training. Harmon said the
resolution was prompted by a fire chief whose certification had expired and was
reluctant to take the training to become recertified. If approved, the resolution would change some
of the requirements for recertification credits. After considerable discussion, it was agreed
that the requirements for obtaining certification and maintaining currency as
originally adopted by the SERC are adequate and should be continue to be
followed. It was also noted the
resolution was submitted without a proper cover letter. Accordingly, a decision was made to accept
the communication without further action.
A motion was made by
Harmon distributed reports written by Arkansas Tech students
who attended the Hot Zone Conference in
A letter received from O.K. Industries in
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After discussion, there was an agreement that the reports are unnecessary because the ammonia
emissions are not considered a health problem, and the
operations are already regulated through EPA permits. It would also be extremely difficult to
accurately determine if a poultry house meets the threshold amount for
reporting.
Franks asked if there was any old or new business. Harmon stated that ADEM has had to re-write the state emergency operations plans to cover the new emergency support functions recently promulgated by FEMA and the SERC has been asked to review the plans as they pertain to the haz-mat portion. He said the changes are minor, mainly changes in names that are required by FEMA. A motion was made by Wise that the members review the plan individually and e-mail Harmon by September 14th with any comments or recommended changes. The motion was seconded and passed unanimously.
Franks asked Harmon to report as a follow-up to a letter written by David Maxwell, Director of ADEM, in 2006 to the Department of Education. The letter requested all schools, both public and private, with chemistry laboratories to supply a list of chemicals to the fire departments that service the schools. Harmon said he received about twenty to thirty responses back from different schools with some filing Tier Two reports for the first time and approximately the same number sending a list of chemicals stored on site. Hopefully more will be received this year. He added that the letters were also sent to the colleges and universities, but no responses have been received from them. Franks said the effort should continue until all have responded.
Wise asked about chemicals and thresholds required by the proposed Department of Homeland Security (DHS) risk management plan program. Harmon responded that the EPA developed a similar plan several years ago and the DHS plan uses the same chemical list as the EPA plan, but with drastically reduced thresholds. For example, the threshold for LP gas under the EPA’s plan is 10,000 pounds whereas under the DHS plan it is 1,000 and all thresholds of ten pounds and some of one-hundred pounds on EPA’s are zero under the DHS plan. It was agreed that such low thresholds will affect many small farms, farm supplies stores and ‘mom and pop’ businesses. There was a question of which state agency will be responsible for enforcing the DHS program and Harmon said currently it is the responsibility of DHS, but eventually could be delegated to a state agency as DHS has only thirty people to monitor the program nationwide. The DHS plans will be under the same exemption from FOI requests as are the EPA plans.
Franks asked if there was any other new business. Claunch reported that he has received FOI requests from three different attorneys regarding the role his agency played in the haz-mat spills at JJ’s Truck Stop and at Triads and asked if ADEM has received the same requests, to which Harmon replied they had. Blankenship said this was probably a result of Saline County passing an ordinance regulating transfer stations and that although Triad was initially established as a drop station with no transfers occurring, it later transitioned into a transfer station with a large amount of chemicals moving through there. He said the station will probably be in trouble if the legislation is retroactive.
There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned
at
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