Blair targeting hazmat scofflaws

County eyes firms out of compliance with hazardous substances rules

Blair County's Local Emergency Planning Committee on Thursday informally endorsed a letter it will be sending to local companies that may not be in compliance with a legal requirement to report their storage or handling of hazardous chemicals.

Committee representatives plan to ask the state Department of Environmental Protection and a local environmental agency for lists of air and water quality permit holders to help identify such firms -- in addition to sending letters to companies that emergency management officials already suspect may need to report.

The letter will function as "an icebreaker," so emergency management officials can start a discussion with firms about the need to comply with the 1990 Pennsylvania Hazardous Material Emergency Planning and Response Act (Act 165), said Blair Emergency Management Director Mark Taylor.

Company officials who receive the letter are likely to be surprised to learn of the requirement, he said.

Emergency management officials crafted the letter to be "informational -- not threatening or overbearing," said Jeff Farber, county Department of Emergency Services planning specialist.

It might make sense to send the letter to firms that were previously compliant, but that have stopped reporting, said an Altoona Fire Department official.

Some of those companies might have stopped because they got rid of the hazardous chemicals they were using, either because increasingly strict regulations made it more difficult or because they found an innocuous substitute -- or both, Taylor said.

Act 165 requires owners or operators of facilities that have qualifying chemicals in qualifying amounts to pay a hazardous materials fee, according to the letter.

Those with "extremely hazardous substances" also must pay a planning fee, according to the letter.

In sending the letter, the committee hopes to "reach out and start a conversation to help determine if your facility has any reportable chemicals and (to) help you facilitate the reporting of these," the letter states.

The letter invites companies that might be in non-compliance to contact Farber at 814-940-5902 or JFarber@Blairco.org or Cris Frederickson at 814-940-5905 or Cfrederickson@Blairco.org.

Mirror Staff Writer William Kibler is at 814-949-7038.