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There is much information here. All of us are citizens, and much of that information is on issues important to all citizens: How can we plan so that if hazardous materials are released into our environment, we can react quickly and effectively to protect ourselves during the release, and clean up afterwards? In fact, how do we know what hazards we face? Answering questions like those is what your Local Emergency Planning Committee (LEPC) is all about. The detailed information about what we do and how we do it is here for you to read, understand, and use.
Some of the information we present here is a bit technical, and there is a lot of "alphabet soup" like "CERP", "IEMA", "EPCRA", and yes, "LEPC". When we use an acronym like these, we'll spell it out the first time we use it, and explain it if necessary. Some, like those above, you'll see in bright orange. If you place your mouse cursor over these, most web browsers will show you the spelled out version as a "tooltip". Try it. We have also provided for your use a glossary, which defines these terms and provides some additional information about them. An orange acronym with an underline, such as those above, is also a link to the corresponding glossary entry. Where we know of a useful website related to a glossary term, the glossary entry also provides a link to it.
We'd suggest you read through this page first to get a feel for what we do. If you are interested in how we are organized, there is a link to our Bylaws; and if you want to see some of the planning we've done, check out the link to our Plans. Under the plans, we also list some opportunities for training that you may wish to take.
We've also provided a number of links to related web pages. This includes a list of other LEPC web pages from around this area. For an overview of the many webpages you can get to from here, check out our Site Map.
If there is some specific information you are looking for on this web site, you can use this search form. Enter one or more keywords to describe the information you want, then select the "Search" button.
After reading about us, if you are interested in getting involved in the effort, you can contact us at the numbers listed on the top of this page. In any case, it is good that citizens like you be aware of the plans — we hope we'll never need to use them, but if we do, having people who know what to do will make it easier for everyone involved.
In addition to being citizens, some of us are also responsible for maintaining inventories of potentially hazardous materials. There are a number of companies in our community that need to use and store materials that could be hazardous if released into our air or water; without those materials, they couldn't do their business.
These companies are, however, required to report the presence of any substances that exceed limits specified by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). If you are one of the people with this legal responsibility, you need to be aware that as of 2006, the Illinois state IEMA requires that Tier II reporting must be done electronically, using the program Tier II Manager, which IEMA has created for the purpose.
This program replaces the program Tier2submit, and is supposed to be simpler to use. We have no details yet on the use of this program, but will report them here once we have seen it in use. Reporting to the LEPC and local fire departments is still required.
Finally, we want you to know that this LEPC website is a growing, living document. It is there for you; if you find errors or omissions, or simply sections of this document that are difficult for you to understand, please let us know. We have also made an effort to make this website a comfortable place for everyone. It is "child safe" and is intended to be accessible to everyone, regardless of disabilities.
If you find elements of this site that do not meet your expectations
in these regards, or in any respect, again we wish to hear from you with
your suggestions for improvement. You can send e–mail to us using
this link:
,
or leave a message on our Guest Book:
.
Your comments will be taken seriously, and we update this website
frequently, based in part on feedback from our readers.
Here are some of the recent changes we've made to this website:
Because of the Emergency Planning & Community Right–to–know Act (EPCRA), the DeKalb County Local Emergency Planning Committee (LEPC) has a legal responsibility to:
As you can see, the LEPC depends heavily on having an up–to–date CERP for the county, and in fact spends much of its time keeping the information associated with the CERP current. We have links to the IEMA–approved DeKalb County CERP at our CERP Page for your information; you can browse through the various sections of the plan, and view the current publicly–accessible information that we have assembled.
The LEPC maintains a CAMEO database for the county, based on annual reports received from Regulated Facilities in the county, known as "Tier II Reports". All facilities in the county that have on hand amounts of hazardous materials that exceed certain legally–specified amounts must report the presence of those substances in this way.
Most of the LEPC's work of organizing and entering the Tier II data is concentrated around the beginning of the calendar year.
In DeKalb County, the LEPC reports through the county's Emergency Services & Disaster Agency (ESDA), to the Illinois Emergency Management Agency (IEMA), and from there to the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).
We're basically your friends and neighbors. The LEPC is a volunteer organization that represents many elements of our community. We are all interested in the safety and protection of our families and fellow citizens, but we also represent specific areas of interest, because of our work and other volunteer activities. The list below tells you who we are, and what interests we represent. If you feel you can contribute to this effort, particularly if you represent a function or key organization that is not represented here, your participation in the LEPC would be most welcome.
| Member Name | Area of Interest: Organization |
Additional Function |
|---|---|---|
| Frank Beierlotzer | Law Enforcement | LEPC Chairperson, LEPC Information Coordinator |
| Pat Dashney | Health | |
| Bob Drake | Health | |
| Don Englum | Regulated Facility | |
| Craig Gilbertson | Environmental | |
| George Greene | Community: Red Cross | LEPC Secretary/Treasurer |
| Joe Herrmann | Hospital | |
| Joe Jones | Fire Fighting | |
| Jerry Lane | Local Government: ESDA | |
| Bill Lorence | Transportation | |
| Ron Matekaitis | Elected Local Official | |
| Jeff McMaster | Fire Fighting | |
| Bruce Meerman | Regulated Facility | LEPC Vice Chairperson |
| Dennis Miller | Local Government: ESDA | ESDA Emergency Coordinator,
LEPC Community Emergency Coordinator |
| Scott Mooberry | Environmental | |
| Jim Quinn | Transportation | |
| William Riddle | Fire Fighting | |
| John Wilson | Elected Local Official | |
| Thomas Zucker | Transportation |
At the moment, we could especially use the participation of people who are active in communications media, such as TV, radio, and newspapers. In the event of an actual hazardous materials incident, such people are key in getting the word out to the public; their input to planning, and participation in training exercises is thus essential.
Regular quarterly LEPC meetings, all open to the public, are currently held at the DeKalb County Highway Department building, at 1826 Barber Greene Road, east of Sycamore Road (SR 23) and west of Peace Road, on the south side of the road. The meeting room is near the northwest corner of the building; there is plenty of parking there.
We meet at 6:30 p.m. on the third Monday of the months of January, April, July, and October. Occasionally there are specially–planned committee and ad hoc plenary meetings scheduled for dates between these. The schedules for all such meetings are sent to the local communications media in the county for publication in advance of the meeting. We will also update this web page to let you know in advance of any additional public meetings.
A quorum for a plenary
LEPC
meeting requires that we have at least one representative of each of
a majority of the interest groups such as you have seen in our member
roster. You can refer to a
PDF file
containing information on the
EPCRA requirements
(
20 kB) for LEPC
membership.
A quorum is required before binding votes can be taken at any DeKalb County
LEPC meeting. Regular attendance by our LEPC members is thus essential.
You can see further details on how we conduct meetings, and on our general
organization, in our
LEPC Bylaws.
The most recent LEPC general meeting of 2006 was held in January.
Regular LEPC meeting dates are currently scheduled as follows
(subject to change, if required by the LEPC membership). For
completed meetings, the link will provide you with a PDF copy of the
meeting minutes ( typically 100 kB),
and for upcoming meetings, the link provides a PDF copy of the
press release for that meeting ( typically 12 kB):
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Last modified: 2006-03-07
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