Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, January 28, 1993 TAG: 9301280333
SECTION: NEIGHBORS PAGE: S-8 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: CHARLES STEBBINS STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
EMERGENCY GROUP IS LOOKING FOR HELP
Promoters of the Roanoke Valley Local Emergency Planning Committee are asking citizens to lend a hand.The 22 committee members promote safe handling of hazardous chemicals. But only six committee members represent industries that use hazardous chemicals, said chairman Sam Winkler of Reliance Universal Co., adding he'd like to see the membership doubled.
Ironically, Winkler said, an industrial site is where a hazardous chemical emergency would be likely to arise.
Larry A. Logan, deputy fire chief in Roanoke County, said he thinks industry is committed to the committee's program, but the problem is in getting individuals from industry to become active with the committee.
The committee, organized in 1987, is sort of a watchdog group but doesn't have any enforcement powers. Its primary job is to educate industry on hazardous chemicals and help keep industry informed of new regulations.
The committee, mandated by federal and state laws, is supposed to draw members from all walks of life, especially emergency personnel, police, fire, general government, hospitals and industry. The public also is supposed to be a vital part of the program.
But the public hasn't been responding in the Roanoke Valley.
Logan said there was wide interest and good attendance at meetings when the committee was organized in 1987. But jobs changed, and the committee's membership gradually dwindled.
The committee often gets someone from industry to become active, but the person will change jobs or move away and then it is difficult to get a replacement, Logan said.
For a time the group - made up of representatives from Roanoke City, Roanoke County, Salem and Vinton - had difficulty getting together enough people to hold a meeting, but a revival is under way and last week the committee brought a government official from Richmond to help spark a renewal.
Cathy L. Harris, environmental program manager for the Virginia Department of Waste Management, told 15 members of the local group that they must promote the committee at every opportunity.
"You must encourage public participation and support," she said. "This is a program for all segments of the community - not just a government program."
She said the committee should invite neighborhood groups and environmental groups to take part in the program.
Harris said participation may be slow in the Roanoke Valley because the valley "has a very good record" in hazardous-chemical safety.
"The Roanoke Valley has industry that tries very hard to comply," she said.
And this effort shows, she said, in the fact that there have been no serious violations among local industries that deal in hazardous chemicals.
Harris said penalties, amounting to as high as $25,000 a day per violation, promote compliance to the regulations that are enforced by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
Every community in the nation is required to have a local committee. Virginia has 114 of the estimated 4,000 committees in the nation. The local committees are a result of the 1984 incident in Bhopal, India, where deadly gas escaped from a chemical plant and the 1985 chemical release from a plant in Institute, W.Va.
The committee's work is mostly educating industry on safety and regulations.
Those incidents proved, Harris said, that chemical escapes can happen anywhere. And from that came the federal Superfund Amendments and Reauthorization Act of 1986. This also is known as SARA Title III, whose specific mandate is "to create a cooperative relationship among government, business and the public, involving all of them in the effort to prevent, to plan and prepare for and to manage chemical emergencies."
next meeting of the Roanoke Valley Local Emergency Planning Committee is March 17 at 9 a.m. at the Salem Civic Center. Persons interested interested in the committee's should call Danny W. Hall, secretary, at 375-3080.