Issue No. 34

Office of Safety and Security
Transit Security Newsletter

January 2003

ADDRESSING TERRORIST ACTIVITIES IN THE LOCAL EMERGENCY PLAN
The threat of terrorist incidents involving chemical and biological materials has increased. Local emergency planning committees (LEPCs) should consider the possibility of terrorist events as they review existing plans and consider how to incorporate counter terrorism (CT) measures into their plans. CT planning and preparedness is often an extension of existing activities, rather than a totally new effort.
This fact sheet discusses how LEPCs can incorporate CT issues when they review and update their local plans. This fact sheet builds on the National Response Team’s Hazardous Materials Emergency Planning Guide (NRT-1) and supersedes Thinking About Deliberate Release Steps Your Community Can Take

Build on Current Activities. LEPCs, established under the Emergency Planning and Community Rights-to-Know Act (EPCRA), prepare and maintain comprehensive emergency plans. These plans address the extremely hazardous substances listed under EPCRA, as well as thousands of hazardous chemi-cals for which OSHA requires MSDS. Many LEPCs are already addressing CT, even if they do not use the word terrorism. If you have developed a plan for possible accidental release of chemicals in your community, you can use the same general planning principals for deliberate releases caused by terrorists. You may need to spend some time considering biological agents. This fact sheet includes some suggestions for how you can modify current activities to include deliberate chemical and biological releases.

Maintain Broad-Based Membership. LEPC membership includes a wide variety of stakeholders, such as elected state and

local officials; police; fire, civil defense, public health, environmental, hospital, and transportation officials; representatives of facilities where chemicals are stored or used; community groups; public works departments; and the media. Identify any specific roles each group might have in the event of a terrorist attack. In addition, you might add a few new members who would bring specific expertise during a release involving biological agents (e.g., the coroner, morticians, chemistry and biology labs, university experts.)

Update and Revise Plans. LEPCs should review their emer-gency response plans annually. Before you begin specific consideration of CT issues, ensure that your emergency plan is cur-rent. Simply adding CT materials to an outdated plan will not create an effective emergency plan. For example, review your plan for outdated contact information, unique hazards presented by facilities that may have been constructed after the emergency response plan was first written or new public works facilities. Also review the annual inventory reports filed under EPCRA Section 312 to determine whether new chemicals or hazards are present in your community. In addition, check risk management plans submitted by facilities in your community to ensure that you address the specific hazards identified by each facility.
After you have generally updated your plan, consider adding information and procedures related to potential terrorist incidents involving weapons of mass destruction (WMD). Table 1 defines each type of WMD and explains the consequences and response difficulties associated with each.
One overall difference in dealing with a WMD incident is that law enforcement officials will be involved in the response as investigators. Officials from local, state, and Federal agencies will be on the scene of an incident to collect evidence and