The Cost of Non-Compliance | Part 3: A Historical Timeline of Major Events (1980-1994)
Uriah Donaldson presented a technical paper at the 2023 IIAR Conference titled The Cost of Non-Compliance: An Objective Analysis of Federal EPA’s Enforcement at Ammonia Refrigeration Facilities. This blog series includes excerpts from his technical paper.
Part 3: A Historical Timeline of Major Events (1980-1994)
December 10, 1980 | The Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) aka Superfund
After numerous incidents involving hazardous chemicals and toxic waste, spurred by the State of Emergency declared by President Carter at Love Canal, Congress passed the federal Superfund law, officially known as the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980 (CERCLA).(12) The Superfund program would be administered by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and was designed to “investigate and cleanup sites contaminated with hazardous substances.”(13) Additionally, the EPA was to be in charge of investigating responsible parties for releases of hazardous substances into the environment and to hold such businesses or municipalities responsible through cleanup costs, settlements or other legal means.”(14)
December 4, 1984 | Bhopal Disaster
In December of 1984 the world’s worst industrial disaster at a chemical facility occurred in Bhopal, India. An American owned corporation, Union Carbide, failed to maintain and operate its Indian plant in Bhopal in accordance with generally accepted engineering standards. As a result, 45 tons of methyl isocyanate (MIC) were released. The toxic gas traveled over large populations killing 15,000 to 20,000 people. An additional 500,000 suffered directly related chronic health issues with countless others suffering for years from the contaminated soil and water.”(15)
Union Carbide had one other plant at that time which manufactured methyl isocyanate (MIC); it was in West Virginia.
October 17, 1986 | Emergency Planning and Community Right to Know Act (EPCRA)
In response to the Bhopal disaster, and the nearly 7,000 documented chemical accidents in the United States, Congress passed the Superfund Amendments and Reauthorization Act of 1986 (SARA), which was an amendment to CERCLA, and signed into law by President Ronald Reagan on October 17, 1986.
The Emergency Planning and Community Right to Know Act (EPCRA) was created as a free-standing law and is commonly known as SARA Title III. The primary objective of EPCRA is “to encourage and support emergency planning efforts at the state and local levels and to provide the public and local governments with information concerning potential chemical hazards present in their communities.”(16)
There are three primary sections of EPCRA which apply to ammonia refrigeration facilities:
- Sections 301-303 | Emergency Planning
- Section 304 | Emergency Release Notification
- Sections 311-312 | Chemical Inventory Reporting
EPCRA does not set limits on which chemicals, and in what quantities, can be stored or used at a facility, but it does require those facilities to document and report such information.
Under the Emergency Planning Sections 301-303, facilities are required to notify the State Emergency Response Commission (SERC) and the Local Emergency Planning Committee (LEPC) if they have an extremely hazardous substance at their facility above a threshold planning quantity (TPQ).
Under the Emergency Release Notification Section 304, facilities are required to immediately notify the State Emergency Response Commission (SERC) and the Local Emergency Planning Committee (LEPC) of any release of a hazardous substance above the Reportable Quantity (RQ).
Hypothetically, a facility could have an extremely hazardous substance on site at a quantity less than the Threshold Planning Quantity and, therefore, not be required to notify the SERC and LEPC under the Emergency Planning section. However, if that same facility had an accidental release of that same substance over the RQ, they would still be required to make immediate notification of the release.
For ammonia the TPQ and RQ values are as follows:(17)
| Threshold Planning Quantity (Section 301-303) | Reportable Quantity (Section 304) |
| 500 lbs. | 100 lbs. |
Under the Chemical Inventory Reporting sections (311 and 312), facilities must submit an annual chemical inventory by March 1. There are two types of forms, Tier I and Tier II. Tier I forms are simpler but are no longer accepted by any states. Therefore, all facilities are, by default, required to submit the Tier II form annually.
November 15, 1990 | Clean Air Act Amendments (CAAA)
Under President George H.W. Bush, Congress passed sweeping revisions to the Clean Air Act (CAA) in November of 1990. The revisions sought to address what were considered three significant threats to Americans: acid rain, urban air pollution, and toxic air emissions.(18)
The amendments included requirements for both the EPA and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) to promulgate rules and standards to prevent chemical releases. As recorded in the Federal Register:
The CAA Amendments of 1990 amend section 112 and add paragraph (r). The intent of section 112(r) is to prevent accidental releases to the air and mitigate the consequences of such releases by focusing prevention measures on chemicals that pose the greatest risk to the public and the environment. Section 112(r)(3) mandates that EPA promulgate a list of regulated substances, with threshold quantities; this list defines the stationary sources that will be subject to accident prevention regulations mandated by section 112(r)(7) (emphasis mine).(19)
OSHA publication 3132 Process Safety Management states:
Section 304 of the [Clean Air Act Amendments] requires that the Secretary of Labor, in coordination with the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), promulgate… a chemical process safety standard to prevent accidental releases of chemicals that could pose a threat to employees (emphasis mine).(20)
1992 & 1994 | Publication of the PSM and RMP Regulations
On February 24, 1992 OSHA’s Process Safety Management Standard was published and included fourteen Prevention Program Elements:
- Process Safety Information
- Process Hazard Analysis
- Operating Procedures
- Employee Participation
- Training
- Contractors
- Pre-Startup Safety Review
- Mechanical Integrity
- Hot Work Permit
- Management of Change
- Incident Investigation
- Emergency Planning and Response
- Compliance Audits
- Trade Secrets
On June 20, 1996, EPA published its Risk Management Program (RMP) which, according to the Federal Register, included
“the requirements of the OSHA PSM standard… with minor wording changes to address statutory differences…. These changes [were] designed to ensure that OSHA retained its oversight of actions designed to protect workers while EPA retained its oversight of actions to protect public health and the environment” (emphasis mine).(21)
In addition, the RMP also included a Hazard Assessment and Offsite Consequence Analysis requirement and submission requirements.
(12) https://www.epa.gov/superfund/superfund-history-printable-version; (13-14) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Superfund; (15) https://www.britannica.com/place/Bhopal-India; (16) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emergency_Planning_and_Community_Right-to-Know_Act; (17) Consolidated List of Chemicals Subject to the Emergency Planning and Community Right-To-Know Act (EPCRA), Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act (CERCLA), and Section 112(r) of the Clean Air Act (CAA); (18) https://www.epa.gov/clean-air-act-overview/1990-clean-air-act-amendment-summary; (19) Federal Register / Vol. 61, No. 120 / Thursday, June 20, 1996, pg. 31669; (20) Process Safety Management OSHA 3132, 2000 Reprint Edition; (21) Federal Register / Vol. 61, No. 120 / Thursday, June 20, 1996, pg. 31672
The previous blogs in this series are available in the following links:
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