This week another RMP Reconsideration Final Rule requirement was born. Many of you had already made the necessary changes to your written management system way back in December 2019, but for those of you that put things off to the last minute… well that last minute just came and is now gone! So what exactly changed this week?
(emphasis by me)
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§68.210 Availability of information to the public. (a) RMP availability. The RMP required under subpart G of this part shall be available to the public under 42 U.S.C. 7414(c) and 40 CFR part 1400. (b) Public meetings. The owner or operator of a stationary source shall hold a public meeting to provide information required under §68.42(b), no later than 90 days after any RMP reportable accident at the stationary source with any known offsite impact specified in §68.42(a). (c) Classified and restricted information. The disclosure of information classified or restricted by the Department of Defense or other Federal agencies or contractors of such agencies shall be controlled by applicable laws, regulations, or executive orders concerning the release of that classified or restricted information. [82 FR 4704, Jan. 13, 2017, as amended at 84 FR 69916, Dec. 19, 2019] |
Assuming December 2019 Final Rule Effective Date, the “Public Meetings” requirement comes into effect within 90 days of any qualifying accident that occurs after March 15, 2021. The compliance date was retained from the RMP Amendments rule:
Comply following any RMP reportable accident with offsite impacts that occurs after March 15, 2021.
I would strongly recommend that this requirement be mentioned in your Incident Investigation program/procedure so that everyone will be aware of this relatively new requirement. In most companies, this “public meeting” may be a bigger event than the actual chemical event that caused the business to have the public meeting!!! EPA does not say who has to be present for this meeting, but the title of the requirement is “Public Meeting” so this implies it is not a “behind closed doors” meeting with local government officials. I can remember 1999 like it was yesterday as I got to do two (2) public roll-outs in AL and OH and neither one was a pleasant experience. These “public meetings” held within 90 days of an incident that resulted in deaths, injuries, or significant property damage on-site, or known offsite deaths, injuries, evacuations, sheltering in place, property damage, or environmental damage.
I can remember my “crisis media” courses I attended while at Great Lakes Chemical and General Electric Plastics to prepare us for speaking to the media during and after a crisis. I attended as an Incident Commander, but other management personnel was attending because of their participation in the RMP public roll-out(s). I would suggest those who participate in these public meetings also attend some type of crisis management training to better prepare them for a potentially hostile “public”.
Not only do we have to hold the public meeting, but we also have to include it in our RMP 5-year update under 68.190(b)(21). So again, having some type of trigger for those who may do the updates to the RMP on file will be helpful to ensure it is not missed.