The Effective Chemical Risk Management Pilot
Project, Region 2 (ECRM2)
National 112r/EPCRA Conference
Denver, CO
John Higgins and Ellen Banner,
Region 2
October 9, 2014
Overview
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Background
Meetings
Outreach Events
Sub Work Groups
Outputs
SOPs
Coordinated Inspections
Discussion
Background
• April 17, 2013 - an ammonium nitrate explosion occurred at
the West Fertilizer Company in West, Texas. Fifteen people
were killed, more than 160 were injured, and more than 150
buildings were damaged or destroyed.
• August 1, 2013 - President Obama signed an Executive Order
(EO 13650) to improve chemical facility safety and security.
Executive Order EO 13650
Regional Pilot Program
• Deploy region-based pilot program including EPA, OSHA,
Department of Homeland Security to:
– validate best practices
– test innovative methods for interagency collaboration using facility
information, stakeholder outreach, inspection planning, joint
inspection efforts.
– develop integrated standard operating procedures for a unified
Federal approach for identifying and responding to risks in chemical
facilities (including during pre-inspection, inspection execution, postinspection, and post-accident investigation activities), incident
reporting and response procedures, enforcement, and collection,
storage, and use of facility information.
Meetings
• July 30, 2013 (NYC) - Kickoff with RAs & State
Commissioners (20+ Attending Agencies)
• September 18, 2013 (Edison) – Working Group
• November 19, 2013 (Edison) – Working Group & stakeholder
listening sessions – NGOs & Industry
• January 14, 2014 (Pomona, NY) – Working Group & 2 NYS
Counties (Rockland and Orange)
• March 25, 2014 (Edison) – Working Group
• May 20, 2014 (Edison) – Working Group
Each meeting was preceded by a conference call the month prior.
Meeting agendas and summaries are available on the website.
Outreach Events in Region 2
• Jun 27, 2013 - NJ First Responder meeting in Middlesex
County, NJ
• Dec 20, 2013 - New York State Fire Administrators in
Montour Falls, NY
• Feb 5, 2014 - National Listening Session in Newark, NJ.
5 Subgroups
• First Responder, Best Practices, and
Challenges
• SERC/LEPC, Best Practices, and Challenges
• Tier 2 Form Content, Best Practices, and
Challenges
• High Risk Facilities/Chemicals
• Data Information Sharing
Accomplishments
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Questionnaire: August-September 2013
Workplan: September 2013
Websites (Private & Exclusive): August – June 2013
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Formation of 5 Subgroups: September 2013
January-June 2014 Inspection Coordination:
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Private (must be registered): http://www.epaosc.org/site/site_profile.aspx?site_id=8769
Exclusive (includes OCA data): http://www.epaosc.org/site/site_profile.aspx?site_id=8909
Coordinated Inspections
Top 10 Facility flags for each Agency
Agency One Pagers on Inspection/Enforcement Process
Collaboration on targeting and conducting routine RMP inspections
April-June 2014 Nonfiler Compliance Initiatives:
– ECRM 2 EPCRA Nonfiler Initiative in NYS & NJ
– Followup to RMP\CFATS National Nonfiler Initiative
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Standard Operating Procedures: May 2014
Multi-Agency Inspector Guidance
LEPC Fact Sheet (under development)
Standard Operating Procedures (1/3)
Completed:
• Region 2 Regional Response Team (RRT) – Change in participation
to include inspection and enforcement programs
• Improving Coordination with Federal and State Agencies on
Programs, Roles, and Contacts – Getting to Know You 
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5.
Questionnaire
Top 10 Facility flags for each Agency
Agency One Pagers on Inspection/Enforcement Process
Multi-Agency Inspector Guidance (condensed version of 2&3 under
development)
ppt summaries, excel details, word documents on website for Items 1-3
• Enforcement Initiative identified EPCRA 311/312 violations 
Standard Operating Procedures (2/3)
Continuing:
• Sustainability:
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Routine inspection collaboration (ppt on web)
Coordinated Inspections (ppt and excel details on web)
Monthly phone calls
Semi-annual meetings
• Cross-Cutting Issues between Sub-groups:
– Mapping and other GIS tools for displaying potential facility impact to
downstream drinking water intakes (ppt on web)
– Providing facility information to first responders.
– Conducting facility and community exercises at RMP facilities
• Inter-Agency Inspection Information, Data Requests, and Database Access
• Inspection Referrals
• Revised Inspection Protocol – inspector will check on the arrival of new
chemicals to determine compliance with 90 day reporting requirements and
program office will continue to work with SERCs and LEPCs to enhance EPCRA
data availability.
Standard Operating Procedures (3/3)
Planned:
• Incident Commander and Hazardous Material Supervisor
Training
• Approach for Specific HAZWOPER Training Standard
• Evaluation of Work Products - tabletop exercise protocol to examine
the effectiveness of the SOPs after an incident
• First Responders Guide to “Subject Matter Experts” – Single
Point of Contact for Facility Chemical Information
• LEPC Best Practice Implementation and Support
• Outreach to Regulated Industry - Concerning the “Emergency
Contact” listed on the Annual Tier II Form and prompt reporting of new
chemicals.
• Joint Drills and Exercises
Unresolved Issues
• Status of Eplan
– funding concern – with no current Federal support the system is
currently reliant on user fees in many states. If users balk at the fees,
the completeness of tier 2 data may decline.
• Keeping all stakeholders involved
– USCG & NYS Dept. of Ag. did not engage in High Risk Subgroup
• Implementation
– Monthly or quarterly inspection group calls?
• Communication
– How will ECRM guidance be funneled down to inspectors?
– How to reach building and fire inspectors?
• SERC and LEPC Inactivity
• Joint exercises at chemical facilities
Lesson Already Learned
It could happen here!
• R2 near miss – firefighters responding to recent fire at RMP
facility parked response vehicles on concrete pad covering an
underground isopentane tank.
• Owner shooed responders from hazard.
• Incident demonstrates need for exercises at RMP facilities.
• R2 RMP Pre-inspection letter revised to stress EPA review of
coordination of the facility emergency response plan will be
more rigorous than in past and will include LEPC
involvement.
Highlights of Questionnaire responses on joint
inspections
• Challenges of joint inspections with other agencies:
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EPA - Enforcement confidentiality, inspector credentials, h&s certifications
DHS- Not desired
OSHA - Resources and statutory deadline
NYS DEC - Authority & security
• Challenges of joint inspections with Non Government Organizations:
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EPA – 17c + facility willingness
DHS- Confidentiality
OSHA - Only union/employee reps would be allowed
PHMSA – Resources
NJDEP TSCA - TBD- benefit?, purpose?, logistics?, qualifications?
NJ DCA – Not practical
NYS DEC - Authorities & Site Acceptance
Coordinated Inspection Concept
• Single lead agency + interested observer
agencies (NJDEP & OSHA could not
participate as observers where they had
authority)
• Focus on learning how other agencies inspect
• EPA developed list through email exchanges
• For completed inspections without actionable
violations, inspection reports were loaded onto
website
FY14 Coordinated Inspection List Process
• Toll manufacturing facilities (no SIC):
– Used a commercial marketing website marketing
• Ammonium nitrate facilities (multiple CAS):
– Joined various Eplan downloads in excel
– Only one facility filed for storing solid AN (inspection
showed switch to liquid form)
• 2 RMP High Risk facilities in NJ previously inspected by EPA
were selected for EPA to observe NJDEP & OSHA
inspections
• Lists were exchanged through exclusive website (part of the
OSC web page)
Coordinated Inspection Results
St
FacilityName
FacilityType
Inspection Type
NJ
Ames Advanced
Materials Corp
ASHLAND - formerly
HERCULES
INCORPORATED
American Spraytech,-
AN storage facility- Ferro on
Eplan list
RMP HiRisk
General Duty Clause
(GDC) inspection
Toxic Catastrophe
Prevention Act routine
inspection
PSM routine inspection
NJ
NJ
OSHA & EPA HiRisk
Inspection Outcome Lead Agency EPA Inspectors
EPA
NJDEP
Observing Inspection Date County
Agencies
Ellen Banner Dwayne NJDEP
Harrington
Francesco Maimone EPA
Ellen Banner
4/23/14
MIDDLESEX
3/18-21/2014
MIDDLESEX
4/21/2014
MIDDLESEX
OSHA - Khara Dwayne Harrington
Brown; Patricia
EPA
NY Ames Goldsmith Corp AN storage facility - related to GDC
21 Roger St.
Ames/Ferro in NJ
EPA
Francesco Maimone
Ellen Banner
EPA,
4/9/2014
NYSDEC
WARREN
NY CardinalHealth NEDC AN storage facility
GDC
EPA
Ellen Banner
5/16/14
ORANGE
NY Josh Lowenstein & Sons Paint & Pigments
NYC RMP facility
inspection
GDC
NYCDEP
Francesco Maimone
DHS,
Orange
County
EPA
5/7/2014
QUEENS
EPA
Dwayne Harrington
DHS,
NJDEP
6/10/2014
CUMBERLAND
GDC
EPA
NJDEP
Francesco Maimone
NYCDEP 6/17/2014
LLC
NJ
CROP PRODUCTION AN storage facility
SERVICES
NJ
Veckridge Chemical
Company
RMP Invalid Paper filer
HUDSON
FY14 Coordinated Inspections Summary
• 3 toll manufacturing facilities dismissed as candidates
– small amount of chemicals & safe operations observed during EPCRA
inspection
• 4 Ammonium nitrate facilities inspected but no safety
concerns were identified
– no agricultural facility id’ed in r2 with solid form of Ammonium
Nitrate
• EPA observations of OSHA PSM & NJDEP TCPA
inspections of High Risk RMP facilities were successful in
building bridges between the agencies
– observing another inspector during an inspection
– having an opportunity to discuss each other’s programs
– sharing information
FY15 Plan for Coordinated Inspections
• Facilities with recent chemical accidents
• Facilities storing pools chemicals such as
sodium hypochlorite
• Metal platers
• Specialty Gas Facilities < RMP Thresholds
• Facilities that are regulated by both EPA’s
RMP rule and the DHS Chemical Facility
Anti-Terrorism Standards (CFATS)
ECRM2
Discussion and Questions