Wake County Tier II Requirements

Tier II reports are required to be completed by any facility that stores or possesses chemicals listed on their Safety Data Sheet or Material Safety Data Sheet as "hazardous" in quantities equal to or exceeding the lesser of 55 gallons/500 pounds/Threshold Planning Quantity as per the North Carolina Hazardous Chemicals Right To Know Act. Compliance with this will also meet the requirements for the Emergency Planning and Community Right to Know Act (EPCRA).

Hazardous Material Information Storage Boxes

Effective January 1, 1992, all commercial businesses in Wake County (including all municipalities) that use, store or manufacture Extremely Hazardous Substances (EHS’s) that must be reported under local or State Right-to-Know laws, N.C.G.S. 95-173, et seq., or under Title III of the Superfund Amendments and Reauthorization Act (SARA) must have an approved on-site Hazardous Materials Chemical Data Storage Box (Wake County Ordinance Chapter 70) at each facility where hazardous materials are found. This system uses an LEPC-approved Hazardous Materials Storage Box that holds critical documents such as the Countywide Site-Specific Plan (SSP)/Hazardous Materials Management Plan (HMMP), pre-fire plans, SDS, diagrams, and access keys.

Pre-fire plans and SDS sheets can be regularly updated by contacting Wake County Emergency Management or the local fire department to open the Knox box, or such updates can be performed during any normally scheduled fire inspection.

70.50 storage box ordinance outlines the contents required to be placed in the Hazardous Materials Data Storage Box.

Request for Emergency Planning Assistance

If you are a facility that stores or uses chemicals in your manufacturing process and need assistance with your Tier II and Site-Specific Plans please call Wake County Emergency Management and request the Hazardous Material Planner.

The Wake County Local Emergency Planning Committee (LEPC) requires facilities that use, store or manufacture hazardous chemicals (chemicals requiring a Safety Data Sheet) to submit a Tier II Report (through E-Plan webpage) if the quantity of any hazardous chemical present at any time during the reporting year meets or exceeds the lesser of the following thresholds:

• The EPA’s Threshold Planning Quantity (TPQ) stated in the List of Lists
• 55 gallons or 500 pounds

EPCRA, Section 302(c), states that you must notify the SERC and LEPC within 60 days if any of the following occur:

• The addition of new hazardous chemicals
• A change in the quantity of hazardous chemicals present within your facility
• A change in the location of hazardous chemicals within your facility
• Your facility no longer uses, stores, or manufactures hazardous chemicals.
   

The Wake County LEPC requires the E-Plan electronic filing system for annual Tier II reporting. This electronic submittal satisfies the reporting requirements for the Wake County LEPC, the North Carolina State Emergency Response Commission (SERC), and the local fire department providing emergency services for your facility. All fire jurisdictions have access to E-Plan; therefore, hard copies are no longer required to be sent to the departments.

 Regulatory References:

• EPCRA Section 303(d)(3)
• North Carolina General Assembly General Statutes Section 95-191
   

MSDS Amendment 
Retail Gas Station Amendment 1 
55-500 WC Time line

 For questions regarding the state regulations for reporting chemical inventory or releases, please contact the following:

Emergency Preparedness and Community Right-To-Know Act (EPCRA)

North Carolina Emergency Management (NCDPS)
Tier II Email: epcra@ncdps.gov
Tier II/RMP program Phone: 919-436-2746

SARA Title III, or the Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act (EPCRA), was passed by Congress in response to concerns regarding the environmental and safety hazards posed by the storage and handling of toxic chemicals. These concerns were triggered by the 1984 disaster in Bhopal, India, caused by an accidental release of methylisocyanate. The release killed or severely injured more than 2,000 people.

To reduce the likelihood of such a disaster in the United States, Congress imposed requirements for federal, state, local governments, tribes, and industry. These requirements covered emergency planning and "Community Right-to-Know" reporting on hazardous and toxic chemicals. The Community Right-to-Know provisions help increase the public's knowledge and access to information on chemicals at individual facilities, their uses, and releases into the environment. States and communities, working with facilities, can use the information to improve chemical safety and protect public health and the environment.

Sections 301 to 303. Emergency Planning – Local governments are required to prepare chemical emergency response plans and to review plans at least annually. State governments are required to oversee and coordinate local planning efforts. Facilities that maintain Extremely Hazardous Substances (EHS) on-site in quantities greater than corresponding threshold planning quantities must cooperate in emergency plan preparation.

Section 304. Emergency Notification – Facilities must immediately report accidental releases of EHS chemicals and "hazardous substances" in quantities greater than corresponding Reportable Quantities (RQs) defined under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) to state and local officials. Information about accidental chemical releases must be available to the public.

Sections 311 and 312. Community Right-to-Know Requirements – Facilities manufacturing, processing, or storing designated hazardous chemicals must make Safety Data Sheets (SDS) available to state and local officials and local fire departments. SDS describe the properties and health effects of these chemicals. Facilities must also report, to state and local officials and local fire departments, inventories of all on-site chemicals for which SDS exist. Information about chemical inventories at facilities and SDS must be available to the public.

Section 313. Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) – Facilities must complete and submit a toxic chemical release inventory form (Form R) annually. Form R must be submitted for each of the over 600 TRI chemicals that are manufactured or otherwise used above the applicable threshold quantities.

Executive Order 13650

Executive Order 13650 improves the safety and security of chemical facilities and reduces the risks of hazardous chemicals to workers and communities. Chemicals, and the facilities that manufacture, store, distribute and use them, are essential to our economy; however, incidents such as the devastating explosion at a fertilizer plant in West Texas are tragic reminders that the handling and storage of chemicals present serious risks that must be addressed.

The Executive Order on Improving Chemical Facility Safety and Security directs the Federal Government to: 

• Improve operational coordination with state and local partners
• Enhance Federal agency coordination and information sharing
• Modernize policies, regulations and standards
   

Learn more by reading the Executive Order 13650 fact sheet.

The federal Superfund Amendments and Reauthorization Act became law in 1986. Title III of these SARA provisions is also known as the Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act (EPCRA). SARA Title III requires states to:

• Promote outreach for developing local emergency preparedness programs such as the Local Emergency Planning Committee (LEPC)to respond to chemical releases.
• Receive reports from the regulated community by way of E-Plan for industries in NC and Wake County.
• Receive reports from the regulated community by way of E-Plan for industries in NC and Wake County.
• Organize, analyze and disseminate the resulting information on hazardous chemicals to local governments and the public.
   

Specifically, this has required the establishment of state emergency response commissions and local emergency planning committees. The nationwide regulated community of manufacturers and non-manufacturers of hazardous chemicals must report concerning their emergency chemical releases; their Safety Data Sheets (SDS); their facility hazardous chemical inventories (Tier I and Tier II reports); and their toxic chemical releases to the air, land or water (Toxics Release Inventory).