CHEMICAL
EMERGENCY PLANNING COMMITTEE
MARCH
28, 2008
Committee Chairman, Phil
Morgan, called the meeting to order at 0830 hours.
Committee members and guests present:
Joanne G. Potvin - Director,
Raymond Potter - Bates College/Underhill Arena
Mark Ryberg – Proctor & Gamble
Tim Bubier – Deputy Director,
Jessica Smith – Pioneer Plastics
Kendall Putnam – Asst Plans, Training & Ops Officer,
Philip Morgan – At Large
Rob Somerville – Safe Handling, Inc.
Paul M. LeClair – Chief Lewiston Fire Department
Jeremy Wherren – International Paper
Richard Whitlock – Auburn Water District
Lawrence Robinson – Auburn Water & Sewer
Marc West – Paris Farmers Union
David White – United Ambulance Service
Jamie Robinson – St. Lawrence & Atlantic Railroad
Stephen Brezinski – Maine Dept of Environmental
Protection, BRWM Response
There
was a quorum to conduct official business of the Committee.
SECRETARY'S REPORT
The Secretary's report for the meeting of 29 February was
accepted without change. Meeting minutes
are now posted on the web site: http://www.androscogginema.org
OLD BUSINESS
A. Committee Secretary reported there were no requests for community right-to-know information since the last meeting
B. Committee Secretary provided the SERC and SERC Training Reports – SERC now requires new LEPC members to fill an application which must be sent to SERC for its approval – we need to validate that the right person is being appointed to the LEPC – Joanne noted that she spoke in opposition to this new SERC requirement as it is already a federal requirement for who must participate on the LEPC as well as it being a duplication of effort for LEPCs that are already sending a list of new reps as they occur as well as sending a complete list as part of the “annual submissions” and that it will cause another increase in the EMA workload but SERC still voted in favor of this additional step to approving new LEPC members; SERC also approved the Training committee’s recommendation for hazmat training vendors; they discussed facilities’ trials & tribulations in doing electronic reporting and noted that many facilities are not fully completing electronic reporting – we have many facilities that reported to SERC but did not report to this LEPC and some reported to this LEPC but did not report to SERC and Joanne noted the time required of EMA staff to walk facilities through the electronic reporting process (45 minutes is average) and recommended to SERC that it consider some type of electronic reporting workshop and this EMA office will do workshops for our facilities in late 2008-early 2009; the next SERC meeting is scheduled for May 20 and next SERC Training Committee meeting is scheduled for April 3; there is a Hazmat Safety Officer Course scheduled for may 6 to 8 and members of State-recognized HM/WMD response teams will be given first priority; annual SERC HM Conference will be held June 11-12 at the Augusta Civic Center and SERC promises more information as the date gets closer; EMA Training Report – Hazmat Ops Refresher training has been completed for Lewiston and Sabattus Fire Departments in January and February repectively; Hazmat/WMD Awareness Training completed for Group One of Lew/Aub 911 on March 17 and Group Two is scheduled for April 24 at 7 AM; Phase Two of the Tri-County / three-phase exercise is the Functional Exercise and will be conducted on May 3 in Canton and part three, the full-scale exercise, will be conducted on October 11; received request from Sabattus Fire Department for a full Hazmat Ops Course and they will host the program for several other departments that have a need; Pioneer Plastics reported they are doing First Aid and CPR training and are in need of an Ops Course – Joanne will provide the dates for the Sabattus Course as soon as she receives approval from MEMA – there were no other training reports
C. Financial Report: Funds received since last meeting: $7,350.00 for Hazmat Ops Refresher Training for Lewiston Fire Dept + $29,084.00 for HSGP invoice (new IMAT vehicle) + $600 for HSGP invoice (contract planner) + February earned interest of $54.83 for a total of $37,088.83; total LEPC expenditures $378,506.95; unencumbered balance $26,611.19 and encumbered balance $11,563.98; purchases made since last meeting: network-ready Okidata c5500 printer for $349.00 after the Instant Rebate of $250.00 as well as paper and file folders; purchases to recommend: one “deposit only to Chemical Emergency Response Fund Acct # XXXXX” requested by County Treasurer (at direction of auditing company) – cost is $21.00
D. Status of Homeland Security Grant 2007 - Where are we now?
Nothing new to report on
E. COBRA Team status: no responses to report on since the last meeting
F. IMAT Vehicle status: RCM radio techs in to review the vehicle and will return to finalize their workplan; computers and software have been ordered
NEW BUSINESS
A. 2007 Chemical Inventory Reports are still due ELECTRONICALLY by many facilities that reported to SERC but did not report here as well as many facilities that reported here but did not report to SERC – correspondence will be sent to all who are not currently in compliance and those facilities will be urged to contact the County EMA Office if they need assistance
OTHER BUSINESS
A. Steve Brezinski of Maine DEP reported
that they have handled many outdoor oil tank problems this winter due to snow
coming off roof tops and landing on unprotected tank valves
SCHEDULING OF NEXT MEETING
Next Meeting is APRIL 25, MAY 30, JUNE 27, JULY 25, AUGUST 29, SEPTEMBER 26, OCTOBER 31,
NOVEMBER 21, DECEMBER 19 - 8:30 A.M. at the Androscoggin Unified Emergency Management Agency located beneath Lewiston
Fire Headquarters at 45 Oak Street in Lewiston – please be sure to use the Oak
Street entrance to the EMA office.
ADJOURNMENT
Meeting
adjourned at 9:05 A.M.