Industry's Voluntary Program: Community Awareness and Emergency Response Program and the Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act

Abstract

This paper describes the chemical industry's Community Awareness and Emergency Response (CAER) Program, and voluntary and mandatory actions by the chemical industry to comply with the major environmental legislation.

The chemical industry started the voluntary CAER Program soon after the Bhopal Disaster in 1984; it is coordinated through the Chemical Manufacturer's Association. This program, which began in March 1985, is a long-term industry commitment to develop a community outreach program and to improve local emergency response planning.

The Congress of the United States began, in 1985, to consider proposals for mandatory programs. This led to enactment of the Superfund Amendments and Reauthorization Act of 1986, known as SARA. A portion of this Act, entitled Title III is also known as the Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act. Although this legislation has many mandatory requirements, it should be emphasized that a significant degree of voluntary industrial participation is needed if the purposes of the statute are to be achieved.

Title III has created an intricate and still evolving system that ties together the EPA, industrial plant managers, state emergency response commissions, local emergency planning committees and fire departments with jurisdiction over the facility. Each of these groups has a different role and responsibilities but must work cooperatively with other participants.

Because of the intricate network of participants, the magnitude of the information flow, and the continuing evolution of the system, unique public relations problems exist in order to comply with Title III.

While understanding demands that we know the nature of the statutory system and how to deal with the basics of the system, in the last analysis the measure of that understanding is to be found in the realities of the daily operations of the plant and the on-going life of the community in which it is embedded. Actions that are responsible, unfamiliar and even costly are needed.

In some ways, the response to this legislation can be viewed as a test of whether the nation can find a way to assert collegiality through joint and voluntary efforts rather than becoming adversaries in courts or legislatures.