Welcome to the Emergency Planning Committee

In 1986 Congress passed the Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act, Public Law 99-499, commonly known as EPCRA or SARA Title III. Section 301(a) of the legislation required each governor to appoint a state emergency response commission (SERC) by April of 1987. Section 301(b) charged the SERCs with the responsibility of dividing the states into planning districts and Section 301(c) for appointing local emergency planning committees (LEPCs).

In 1987, the Massachusetts State Emergency Response Commission, in compliance with the new legislation, designated each MEMA sub-area as planning districts and appointed a Local Emergency Planning Committee for each city and town within them. The legislation required that the committees have representation from a specified number of interest groups.

The mission of an LEPC can be summarized as follows:

-A response plan must be written for responding to a hazardous material incident with the jurisdiction(s). It must also be reviewed annually.
-Emergency responders (police, fire, emergency medical services, public works, etc.) must be trained to levels indicated in the plan. At a minimum, first responders must be trained to the awareness level.
-The emergency response plan must be exercised at least once a year.
-The committee must create a system to collect, store, and respond to public requests.

LEPC STRUCTURE

1. Elected Official
2. Law Enforcement
3. Emergency Management
4. Firefighting
5. Emergency Medical Service
6. Health
7. Local Environmental
8. Hospital
9. Transportation
10. Media
11. Community Group
12. Facility Owner/Operator
13. Public Works