SERC-TERC Updates: May 2024
SERCs, TERCs, and Federal Partners: Please forward this monthly update to your stakeholders

Mention of non-EPA documents, presentations, training opportunities and conferences does not constitute an U.S. EPA endorsement of their contents, only an acknowledgment that they exist and may be relevant to the SERC-TERC audience.

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Regulatory and Policy Information Related to Chemical Safety & Security
FEMA Seeks National Resilience Guidance Input
FEMA is seeking feedback on the draft National Resilience Guidance, beginning April 23. National resilience is a complex topic and building it requires whole community effort. This Guidance will help everyone understand and fulfil their critical roles related to increasing national resilience.
 
With the goal of increasing community and national resilience, the Guidance:
  • Promotes a common understanding of resilience.
  • Emphasizes the critical relationship between chronic community stressors and shocks.
  • Addresses the roles of all stakeholders.
  • Provides an actionable approach to resilience planning and implementation.
  • Incorporates a community resilience maturity model that walks through concrete steps to build resilience.

FEMA will host a series of four 60-minute webinar sessions in May to provide an overview of the National Resilience Guidance and gather feedback from whole community partners. The sessions will include facilitated discussions with stakeholders to help improve the existing draft. FEMA seeks input - especially real-world case studies – that can be incorporated into the Guidance and supporting supplemental materials also under development. In addition, a line-numbered version of the draft guide is available to allow individuals to provide comments on specific areas within the document. This national engagement period will conclude on May 23, 2024.

To review the document and learn more about the webinar sessions, please visit the FEMA website at National Resilience Guidance | FEMA.gov.

FEMA Releases Climate Adaptation Planning: Guidance for Emergency Managers 
In honor of Earth Day, FEMA released the “Climate Adaptation Planning: Guidance for Emergency Managers.” The guide helps emergency managers incorporate climate adaptation into planning efforts and the structure is designed to walk state, local, tribal, and territorial partners through the Six Step Planning Process, as identified in “Comprehensive Preparedness Guide 101: Developing and Maintaining Emergency Operations Plans.”

The guide identifies emergency manager responsibilities and resources in climate adaptation planning, by highlighting:
  • Climate impacts by community lifeline and recovery support function;
  • Existing climate mapping tools;
  • Potential funding resources; and
  • Climate trainings.

Throughout the guide there are links to a variety of other relevant resources which emergency managers may be interested in. FEMA will host a series of 60-minute webinar sessions to provide an overview of the guide and associated resources. The webinars will also provide information on the Emergency Management Institute’s “Climate Adaptation and Hazard Mitigation Certificate Program.”

To access the guide, for more information on the webinars, and for other Planning Guides, visit the FEMA webpage: https://www.fema.gov/emergency-managers/national-preparedness/plan.
Hot Topics
Now Available: Emergency Response Guidebook (ERG) 2024
First responders and law enforcement can request hard copies of the book from their state coordinators.
Other available ERG 2024 resources include:
  • Full PDFs of the ERG 2024 are available in English, Spanish, and French on the PHMSA ERG Website under “Resources.” PDFs include accessibility features.
  • The ERG 2024 mobile app is available on iOS and Android. For users who have already downloaded the 2020 version, your app should automatically update. The app is available in English, Spanish, and French via the in-app settings.
  • Want to know what’s changed since 2020? The Summary of Changes, available as a PDF in both English and Spanish, highlights major updates from the ERG 2020. Print copies of this document will be available in the future by contacting training@dot.gov.
  • Commercial Suppliers can request publishing files for ERG 2024 by contacting ERGcomments@dot.gov. 

PHMSA is discontinuing the ERG for Windows application, previously available for ERG 2020. We encourage you to join over 1.4M users who have downloaded the mobile app, or accessing the PDF versions of the book. Stay tuned to the PHMSA ERG website for more updates.

Now Available: Expanded Hazardous Materials Commodity Flow Statistics
The U.S Census Bureau and PHMSA's OHMS jointly developed the 2021-2022 Expanded Hazmat Supplement (EHS), a first-of-its-kind dataset for public release. This dataset is an expansion of the 2022 Commodity Flow Survey (CFS), informed by supplemental questions about hazardous materials and new data from hazmat shippers who use DOT-regulated specification packaging.
This data includes types of hazmat shipped, packaging specifications, quantity and weight of hazmat, and the primary mode of transportation. Making this data available will help to enhance public and first responder safety, research and data-driven decision-making, social and environmental responsibility, and risk assessment and mitigation.


EPA Announces Online Collection of Environmental Justice Resources
EPA has released the Environmental Justice Clearinghouse, a first-of-its-kind online collection of resources related to environmental justice. Directed by President Biden’s Executive Order on Revitalizing Our Nation's Commitment to Environmental Justice for All, the Environmental Justice Clearinghouse will help the public access federal and non-federal resources online as part of the Biden-Harris Administration’s ambitious environmental justice agenda. 

The preliminary resources listed on the Environmental Justice Clearinghouse were submitted by agencies from across the federal government, including funding opportunities, screening and mapping tools, and technical assistance. The Environmental Justice Clearinghouse features searchable categories to simplify results for the public to ensure a more efficient and accessible process for accessing information related to environmental justice. Visit EPA’s website to view the Environmental Justice Clearinghouse or submit a potential resource. 

Nine Months Since Lapse in CFATS Reauthorization
It has now been more than nine months since Congress allowed the statutory authority for the Chemical Facility Anti-Terrorism Standards (CFATS) program (6 CFR Part 27) to expire on July 28, 2023. CFATS worked with high-risk facilities to ensure that their dangerous chemicals stayed out of the hands of bad actors. Now, CISA cannot conduct terrorist vetting on personnel who have access to dangerous chemicals—that's 9,000 names each month going unvetted—meaning a total of 81,000 names have not been vetted for terrorist ties. CFATS helped to ensure a more secure environment for high-risk facilities and that dangerous chemicals were not being used by bad actors. CISA urges Congress to reauthorize CFATS. 
Training Opportunities and Conferences
2024 Tribal Assistance Coordination Group Conference; May 6 - May 10, 2024; Phoenix, AZ
The Tribal Assistance Coordination Group Conference brings together tribal emergency managers and program personnel, federal emergency management personnel, volunteer organization active in disasters personnel, state, local and non-government organizations involved in emergency management professionals to share the latest program information and best practices for all hazard emergencies and disasters.

Click here for more information and to register.

FEMA Hosts Webinars on the Resource Inventory System 
FEMA is hosting two 1-hour webinars on the Resource Inventory System (RIS), on May 15, from 1-2 p.m. ET, and on May 21, 2024, from 1-2 p.m. ET. Both webinars will cover the basic capabilities and functions of RIS and explore new functions recently added to the tool.

Resource management is the cornerstone of preparing for and responding to incidents that require mutual aid among agencies and jurisdictions. The Resource Inventory System (RIS) is a centralized, secure, and cloud-hosted resource inventory solution for use by the community in building and strengthening resource management preparedness. RIS enables organizations and users to identify and inventory their resources consistently with National Incident Management System (NIMS) resource types and National Qualification System (NQS) positions.

The webinars will explain RIS's role in the resource management process. Participants will gain insights into updates, including the ability for an organization to choose when and how to implement updates and/or releases to National Resource Types in the Resource Typing Library Tool; individual ownership of an organization’s local definitions/qualifications; and the ability for Organization Administrators to more easily see and manage their organization’s users. Participants will be able to ask questions at the end of the presentation. Please register in advance to attend the webinar.


ChemLock: Introduction to Chemical Security Training Course, Virtual
This course provides an introduction to identifying, assessing, evaluating, and mitigating chemical security risks. This easy-to-understand overview identifies key components and best practices of chemical security awareness and planning to help kickstart chemical security discussions at a facility. This course runs 1-2 hours in length and is appropriate for all personnel regardless of their level of involvement with dangerous chemicals.
ChemLock: Secure Your Chemicals Security Planning Training Course, Virtual
This course walks through how to create a tailored, scalable security plan that meets the business model and unique circumstances of a facility. Participants will learn the key elements of a chemical security plan and benefit from examples, lessons learned, and best practices. The course runs 2-3 hours in length and is designed to help leadership, facility security personnel, and other applicable personnel understand, develop, and implement a facility security plan.
For more information or to request a specific training for your facility, please visit the ChemLock Training webpage.

CAMEO for Planning
Understand the hazardous material threat in your jurisdiction. Experienced instructors will train
you how to use the Computer Aided Management of Emergency Operations (CAMEO) Suite software to facilitate planning for hazardous material incidents. This training focuses on CAMEO Data Manager (DM), CAMEO Chemicals, and MARPLOT. Find more information and register here.

This month-long class includes: online classroom with 24/7 access to weekly lessons, videos & activities; weekly, scheduled live Q&A webinars; 1-hour Zoom call on the first day of class; four 2-hour webinars on the remaining 4 days. Two remaining sessions in 2024:
  • Session 2: May 28 – June 25 (Tuesday webinars)
  • Session 3: Oct. 17 – Nov. 14 (Thursday webinars)
Ammonia Safety & Training Institute (ASTI) presents Safety Day training and chemical Tabletop Exercises (TTX) available to local industry and community responders
  • ASTI formed the National Safety Day Coalition together with IIAR, RETA, and GCCA to present safety and emergency response preparedness training at minimal cost to the attendees.
  • ASTI worked with Region 9 EPA to create ammonia Tabletop Exercises based upon the One Plan four stages of response; focused on engaging local, state, and federal emergency response plans.
  • ASTI organizes and leads a local committee of industry, public safety, and governmental leaders to create Safety Day presentations and Tabletop Exercises.
  • Sample topics include: hazard analysis, health & safety concerns, critical task readiness, e.g., emergency system control, rapid “grab and go” rescue by first responders, and methods of containment and control of ammonia events using proper methods e.g., personnel protective equipment, decontamination, teaming agreement with public safety responders, monitoring systems, and command team coordination and communications readiness to address on-site and off-site life safety and environmental receptors.

Event schedule updated regularly on ASTI website at www.ammonia-safety.com.
For a current list of events: Event Schedule
Contact ASTI via email at asti@ammonia-safety.com or call 831-761-2935 for more information.
More Information
Environmental Protection Agency / Department of Homeland Security & US Coast Guard
Department of Labor & Occupational Safety and Health Administration
Department of Transportation / Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives/ Department of Agriculture