The Emergency Planning and Community Right to Know Act (EPCRA) establishes reporting standards to increase public knowledge of emergency planning and the presence, release and transfer of toxic chemicals throughout U.S. communities. The EPCRA, a part of the Superfund Amendments and Reauthorization Act of 1986, requires manufacturing and federal facilities to report in four areas:
Reporting requires coordination with local and state emergency planners and first responders, annual hazardous substance inventory reporting to local and state emergency planners, and annual reporting to the national Toxic Release Inventory (TRI). The requirement for the TRI is explained in Section 313 of the EPCRA.
Pursuant to the EPCRA, the Army has adopted reporting standards for many of its activities to increase public knowledge. These include demilitarization activities; chemical storage activities; chemical usage activities; range activities; ammunition manufacture, processing, and wastewater treatment at government owned, contractor operated (GOCO) facilities; depot-level vehicle maintenance; and intermediate-level vehicle maintenance at troop installations.
Army facilities regulate the presence and quantity of hazardous chemicals through regular inventories. They submit reports to local emergency planning committees (LEPCs), state emergency response commissions (SERCs), local fire departments, and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
USAEC's role in promoting environmental compliance for the Army with EPCRA includes: