EPA Takes Homeland Security Planning to Next Level
Long after many first response agencies have packed up their equipment and moved on, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is often required to remain at a disaster site for the long-haul - to complete clean-up and decontamination activities, prior to reuse and reentry. No matter what type of Homeland Security threat we plan for, be it chemical, biological, radiological, oil spills, natural disasters or other types of disasters, clean-up and decontamination are important elements of a long-term response - and EPA plays a key role to ensure public health and safety.
We have seen the increasing importance of EPA's role in Homeland Security as we recount the major disasters of the recent past. EPA assisted in the search and recovery of debris and hazardous materials after the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster; the Agency worked with State and City officials to conduct air monitoring, clean-up and decontamination through lower Manhattan after 9/11; EPA developed and oversaw the state-of-the-art decontamination procedures which re-opened federal office buildings after the Anthrax threats; and the Agency deployed more than 1600 of its personnel to clean up environmental hazards and debris and restore critical water services after Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.
In addition to executing its designated roles and responsibilities under the National Response Framework, EPA, with it's cadre of highly trained personnel, has also learned to "expect the unexpected" when it comes to its planning and response activities. For example, during the crisis immediately following Hurricane Katrina, EPA turned its water sampling boats into lifesaving vehicles as Agency personnel and contractors performed urban search and rescue functions to pull more than 800 people from the flood waters to safety.
EPA's involvement and participation in these significant national responses have prompted the Agency to heed some valuable lessons as it works to step up its overall Homeland Security planning efforts. While all of EPA's ten regional offices, and the EPA's Headquarters office in Washington, DC, are working together to bolster homeland security and emergency preparedness Agency-wide, EPA's New England's Regional Office (EPA NE) is at the forefront of many efforts, as it has been designated the "lead EPA region for Homeland Security" for 2007 and 2008.
In its "lead region" role, EPA NE has been leading by example and taking many regional initiatives to improve readiness. Here is a glimpse of regional preparedness operations, recent initiatives and some future highlights:
Emergency Response
EPA NE's Emergency Planning and Response Branch (EPRB), with its 24 "Level A trained" On-Scene Coordinators, partners with state and federal agencies to co-chair the Regional Response Team (RRT) and operate key regional response assets, such as the Regional Emergency Operations Center and the Mobile Command Post. In FY'07, the EPRB evaluated close to 800 spill line calls; conducted 24 Emergency Responses; and responded to several significant incidents including a chemical plant explosion in Danvers, MA (4 months - approximately $1,275,000); a hydrofluoric acid spill in South Hadley, MA; A huge mill complex fire in Uxbridge, MA; a train derailment and gasoline spill in Middlebury, VT; and anthrax contamination in a residential property in Danbury, CT (6 months - approximately $500,000).
Laboratory Improvements
EPA New England's Regional Laboratory in Chelmsford, MA is leading the national effort to increase environmental laboratory capacity for Homeland Security incidents and has made great inroads in three major areas: 1) creating a network with NE environmental and public health labs to provide mutual support; 2) developing and expanding EPA's laboratory capabilities for chemical warfare agents; and 3) evaluating a prototype facility to screen unknown samples known as the All Hazards Receipt Facility (AHRF). In February 2008, a Regional Laboratory Response Plan exercise will be held to test regional cooperation and capacity among New England's drinking water primacy laboratories.
Water Security
Working with state agencies and water utilities, EPA's regional water experts have established six (6) intra-state Wastewater Agency Response Network (WARN) agreements in all New England states, which effectively put in place pre-incident agreements to facilitate an effective and efficient flow of personnel and resource assistance among neighboring water utilities during emergencies. Additionally, great progress has been made to establish a NE Inter-State Mutual Aid Compact and develop EPA Water Response Teams. These highly trained teams, once established, will be prepared to conduct water assessments during emergencies.
Chemical Safety/Community Outreach
EPA NE staff participated and/or conducted 12 exercises to practice emergency preparedness and chemical safety with local communities; conducted 30 Emergency Planning Community Right to Know Act (EPCRA) conferences that were attended by over 1,200 facilities that use or store hazardous chemicals; and worked extensively with Local Emergency Planning Committees (LEPCs) and State Emergency Response Commissions (SERCS).
Promoting “Homeland Security Literacy” among regional personnel
Over 80 percent of EPA NE staff attended a Homeland Security Orientation session about how and why Homeland Security is part of what we do at EPA. These sessions taught staff about the important environmental and public health protection roles that we have played in past incidents and the expectations for EPA response in the future.
Incident Command System (ICS) Training
Working to bolster the number of regional staff with ICS training, the region encouraged all employees to take ICS 100/200 -- which resulted in approximately 50 percent of regional employees taking the free on-line FEMA training. Taking advantage of a Agency-wide train-the-trainer program, over 25 percent of regional employees are now trained in advanced level ICS (ICS 300/400), including all senior managers. To ensure depth of trained personnel necessary to implement a prolonged EPA response to a major incident, we have provided ICS position-specific training to a large cadre of staff. EPA Region I has trained between 5 and 9 employees in each of 11 ICS positions (Command and General Staff as well as Resource, Situation, and Environmental Unit Leaders) that EPA considers to be key leadership positions in an incident-specific Incident Management Team (IMT). Plans for 2008 include mandatory training for all staff in ICS 100/200, and development and implementation of a regional IMT refresher training/exercise for all position-specific-trained regional staff.
Pandemic Planning
Following steps set out in EPA NE's, "Draft Pandemic Influenza (PI) Action Plan," EPA's regional PI Preparedness Workgroup identified and informed key personnel of their designated leadership roles in the event of a pandemic influenza. Enhanced IT equipment (blackberries, laptops, cell phones) was provided to all COOP designated employees to promote telework opportunities. EPA NE conducted a three-day regional coop/telework exercise involving 155 people, including a pre-exercise training to provide instruction on IT tools and information on preparing "work at home emergency kits." All participants received thumbdrives with important contact numbers and information. Additionally, EPA's regional water experts conducted numerous workshops for water utilities on pandemic preparedness.
Coordinating with Federal and State Partners
Among numerous coordinating activities, EPA NE personnel regularly attend FEMA's quarterly RISC meetings, co-chair the RRT with the USCG; coordinate with the ACOE and FEMA to help develop Water Response Teams; and participate in numerous interagency training, drills, and exercises. EPA NE visited the Commissioners from all six NE State Environmental Agencies to discuss homeland security and debris management. To further federal/state collaboration we will host an "EPA New England Inter-State Homeland Security Environmental Summit" at UMASS Lowell on May 13-14, 2008. Utilizing one of the DHS Disaster Planning scenarios, this day and one-half long Summit will bring together New England's key federal and state Homeland Security environmental and public health leaders to discuss regional resources, assets and protocols that would be utilized in the event of a blister agent attack at a large public stadium event. The goal of the Summit will be to promote a regionalized approach during a Homeland Security incident and highlight best practices and identify gaps in regional planning efforts.
For more information, contact: Sheryl Rosner at rosner.sheryl@epa.gov.
Last Modified: Tuesday, 26-Feb-2008 11:52:18 EST