Alerting Localities of Environmental Risks and Threats Act of 2020

I 116TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION H. R. 6527 To amend the Emergency Planning and Community Right-To-Know Act of 1986 to require an emergency notification meeting in the event of the release of an extremely hazardous substance from a facility, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES APRIL 17, 2020 Ms. BLUNT ROCHESTER introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce A BILL To amend the Emergency Planning and Community Right- To-Know Act of 1986 to require an emergency notifica- tion meeting in the event of the release of an extremely hazardous substance from a facility, and for other pur- poses. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Alerting Localities of 4 Environmental Risks and Threats Act of 2020’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:04 Apr 22, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6527.IH H6527 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 6527 IH SEC. 2. PUBLIC MEETINGS ADDED. 1 (a) EMERGENCY NOTIFICATION MEETING.—Section 2 304(b) of the Emergency Planning and Community Right- 3 To-Know Act of 1986 (42 U.S.C. 11004(b)) is amended 4 by adding at the end the following new paragraph: 5 ‘‘(3) PUBLIC MEETING.—Not later than 72 6 hours after a release which requires notice under 7 subsection (a), the owner or operator of the applica- 8 ble facility shall— 9 ‘‘(A) publish a notice in a local newspaper, 10 and post such notice at a local library and other 11 local government buildings and on the public 12 website for the facility, if any, with at least 24 13 hours notice, of a public meeting, including— 14 ‘‘(i) the date of such meeting; 15 ‘‘(ii) the time of such meeting; and 16 ‘‘(iii) the location of such meeting; 17 and 18 ‘‘(B) hold such meeting, providing, con- 19 sistent with section 322, the information re- 20 quired under paragraph (2), to the extent such 21 information is known at the time of the meeting 22 and so long as no delay in responding to the 23 emergency results.’’. 24 (b) ANNUAL PUBLIC MEETING.—Subtitle A of the 25 Emergency Planning and Community Right-To-Know Act 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:04 Apr 22, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6527.IH H6527 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 6527 IH of 1986 (42 U.S.C. 11001 et seq.) is amended by adding 1 at the end the following new section: 2 ‘‘SEC. 306. ANNUAL PUBLIC MEETING. 3 ‘‘Not later than 1 year after the date of enactment 4 of this section, and annually thereafter, the owner or oper- 5 ator of a facility subject to the requirements of this sub- 6 title shall— 7 ‘‘(1) publish a notice in a local newspaper, at 8 least 7 days in advance, of a public meeting, includ- 9 ing— 10 ‘‘(A) the date of such meeting; 11 ‘‘(B) the time of such meeting; and 12 ‘‘(C) the location of such meeting; and 13 ‘‘(2) hold such meeting, providing, consistent 14 with section 322— 15 ‘‘(A) the chemical name of each substance 16 on the list published under section 302(a) that 17 was present at such facility, in an amount in 18 excess of the threshold planning quantity estab- 19 lished for such substance under such section, at 20 any time in the preceding calendar year; 21 ‘‘(B) an estimate of the maximum amount 22 of each such substance present at such facility 23 during the preceding calendar year; and 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:04 Apr 22, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6527.IH H6527 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 6527 IH ‘‘(C) the details of the methods and proce- 1 dures to be followed to respond to a release of 2 such a substance pursuant to the applicable 3 emergency plan prepared under section 4 303(c).’’. 5 (c) ENFORCEMENT.—Section 325(c)(1) of the Emer- 6 gency Planning and Community Right-To-Know Act of 7 1986 (42 U.S.C. 11045(c)(1)) is amended by striking 8 ‘‘section 312’’ and inserting ‘‘section 306, 312,’’. 9 (d) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of contents 10 in section 300(b) of the Emergency Planning and Commu- 11 nity Right-To-Know Act of 1986 is amended by adding 12 after the item relating to section 305 the following: 13 ‘‘Sec. 306. Annual public meeting.’’. Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:04 Apr 22, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H6527.IH H6527 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS