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ADDRESSING TERRORIST ACTIVITIES IN THE LOCAL EMERGENCY
PLAN
The threat of terrorist incidents involving chemical and biological
materials has increased. Local emergency planning committees
(LEPCs) should consider the possibility of terrorist events
as they review existing plans and consider how to incorporate
counter terrorism (CT) measures into their plans. CT planning
and preparedness is often an extension of existing activities,
rather than a totally new effort.
This fact sheet discusses how LEPCs can incorporate CT issues
when they review and update their local plans. This fact sheet
builds on the National Response Team’s Hazardous Materials
Emergency Planning Guide (NRT-1) and supersedes Thinking
About Deliberate Release Steps Your Community Can Take
Build
on Current Activities. LEPCs, established under the
Emergency Planning and Community Rights-to-Know Act (EPCRA),
prepare and maintain comprehensive emergency plans. These plans
address the extremely hazardous substances listed under EPCRA,
as well as thousands of hazardous chemi-cals for which OSHA
requires MSDS. Many LEPCs are already addressing CT, even if
they do not use the word terrorism. If you have developed a
plan for possible accidental release of chemicals in your community,
you can use the same general planning principals for deliberate
releases caused by terrorists. You may need to spend some time
considering biological agents. This fact sheet includes some
suggestions for how you can modify current activities to include
deliberate chemical and biological releases.
Maintain
Broad-Based Membership. LEPC membership includes a
wide variety of stakeholders, such as elected state and
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local
officials; police; fire, civil defense, public health, environmental,
hospital, and transportation officials; representatives of facilities
where chemicals are stored or used; community groups; public
works departments; and the media. Identify any specific roles
each group might have in the event of a terrorist attack. In
addition, you might add a few new members who would bring specific
expertise during a release involving biological agents (e.g.,
the coroner, morticians, chemistry and biology labs, university
experts.)
Update
and Revise Plans. LEPCs should review their emer-gency
response plans annually. Before you begin specific consideration
of CT issues, ensure that your emergency plan is cur-rent. Simply
adding CT materials to an outdated plan will not create an effective
emergency plan. For example, review your plan for outdated contact
information, unique hazards presented by facilities that may
have been constructed after the emergency response plan was
first written or new public works facilities. Also review the
annual inventory reports filed under EPCRA Section 312 to determine
whether new chemicals or hazards are present in your community.
In addition, check risk management plans submitted by facilities
in your community to ensure that you address the specific hazards
identified by each facility.
After you have generally updated your plan, consider adding
information and procedures related to potential terrorist incidents
involving weapons of mass destruction (WMD). Table 1 defines
each type of WMD and explains the consequences and response
difficulties associated with each.
One overall difference in dealing with a WMD incident is that
law enforcement officials will be involved in the response as
investigators. Officials from local, state, and Federal agencies
will be on the scene of an incident to collect evidence and
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