The Sarpy County Local Emergency Planning Committee was convened in open and public session on 13 June 2001 at 7:30 PM at the Papillion Fire Department. The following members or alternates were present according to the sign-in sheet: Candy Borman, Keith Deiml, Gary Fliehmann, Robin Gullie, Jane Hedges, Scott Keep, Joe Mastandrea, Wade Petersen, Dan Peterson, Maria Reiter, Tim Schram, and Matt Wallace. Guests were Mr. Lou Wagner from Union Pacific.

Advanced notice of the meeting was published in the Bellevue Leader and Papillion Times. Copies of Proof of Publication are on file in the Sarpy County Clerk’s Office. All proceedings were taken while the convened meeting was open to the attendance of the public.

Coordinator Mastandrea recommended deferring any business needing to be voted on or approved because we lacked a quorum. Chairman Fliehmann stated that we would hold approval of the 14 March LEPC meeting minutes until our next meeting in September.

Chairman Report: Chairman Fliehmann advised that there were no reportable Hazardous Material (HAZMAT) incidents during the second quarter. Bellevue HAZMAT Team responded to 3 HAZMAT incidents in March consisting of an antifreeze leak, a gas spill, and a faulty valve on a furnace. They responded to 2 incidents in April and in May they had 4 responses involving paint fumes, heater coil out, gas smell, and a HAZMAT spill. All were nonreportable. Matt Wallace asked for clarification between reportable and nonreportable incidents. Coordinator Mastandrea mentioned that reportable spills were subject to state reporting. EPA published a consolidated list of chemicals subject to state and local reporting under the Emergency Planning and Community Right-To-Know Act (also known as Title III of the Superfund Amendments and Reauthorization Act of 1986). This List of Lists includes between 400 and 600 chemicals subject to reporting requirements based on releases of quantities equal to or greater than the reportable quantity (in pounds). Matt wanted to know what determines which HAZMAT incident gets briefed at the LEPC. Coordinator Mastandrea stated that what gets briefed is something we’ve responded to. Chairman Fliehmann said that the HAZMAT incidents are briefed for information purposes only because they have been reported through 911. Coordinator Mastandrea informed the committee members that at the time of a spill, a facility is required to verbally notify 911 and then 911 reports that information (basically pages the Chairman) to the LEPC. EPA Region VI considers notifying 911 the same as notifying the LEPC. That’s the reason 911 has a Standard Operating Procedure for LEPC notification. Matt Wallace told the committee he raised the issue because he knew of two other incidences that were not state-reportable but were certainly as significant as the ones just mentioned. One was a hydraulic release into a waterway. The second involved an acid release from an ECO lab truck which Gretna HAZMAT responded to with assistance from Bellevue. Matt stated that the command center doesn’t always use HAZMAT to classify an incident, which may be the reason some do not get reported. Coordinator Mastandrea said this was something we could look into.

Vice Chairman Report: No Report.

Information Coordinator: Coordinator Mastandrea reported that the Radiological Emergency Plan was recently approved by Bellevue City Council and the Sarpy County Board and was sent to FEMA for review. The Local Emergency Operations Plan (LEOP) annual update was submitted to Nebraska Emergency Management along with paperwork from Chairman Fliehmann authorizing payment for the printing. Right now, the State is trying to implement a 5-year Plan Revision Cycle. Divided among 93 counties, this equates to about 20 plans a year. This is the reason for the delay in finalizing and printing our plan. We anticipate getting the update back and out to all agencies within the next month. Next, Coordinator Mastandrea provided an update on his efforts to reformat the LEPC Resource Book. He is trying to automate the process to make it easier to update in the future. Coordinator Mastandrea also provided feedback on the 20 March Terrorism Workshop held at Midland’s Hospital. The workshop went very well with 8 participating agencies. They conducted a formal terrorism analysis which is a prerequisite for terrorism grants that will be applied for in the future. In addition, some of the fire departments recently participated in a new federal grant program. The deadline for that program was May 2, and we should know by next meeting if they were successful in obtaining any grants. Finally, Coordinator Mastandrea informed the committee that the State Emergency Response Commission (SERC) changed its criteria so he had to resubmit applications for membership. In the past, he could e-mail changes; now the SERC requires a signature. Two membership changes which will be made at 17 July SERC Meeting will be appointing Jane Hedges from Midland’s Hospital and reinstating Rich Weber who is our Public Works representative.

Secretary Report: Chairman Fliehmann reported that the LEPC officers held a pre-meeting on 31 May. Secretary Reiter read the Minutes of the Pre-Meeting to the committee.

Exercise: Secretary Reiter briefed the committee members on a Tornado National Disaster Response Exercise (NDRE) planned by Offutt AFB for 21 Jun. The exercise is a repeat from a 4 April NDRE. The objectives of the exercise are to test command, control, and communications and will not involve the local community. Secretary Reiter mentioned that the base plans to activate the sirens for approximately 10 minutes and requested off-base responders not to take action. While the sirens are sounding, base personnel will practice going into severe weather shelters and will remain there until the all clear is given. Jane Hedges requested a call on any scheduled changes in order to keep Midlands personnel advised that the sirens are a test and don’t require a response. Secretary Reiter also provided information about the Offutt Airshow Major Accident Response Exercise on 11 August. Right now, the scenario calls for two separate accident sites, one in Douglas County and the other at Offutt AFB. The scenario in Douglas County involves the crash of a civilian Tora, Tora, Tora aircraft into the AT&T Point of Presence Plant, disabling communications for the entire region. Steve Lee will make the final decision on whether Douglas County wants to exercise. The second site involves the crash of an F-117 into the crowd of spectators at Offutt AFB watching the airshow. Because of the composition of the F-117 aircraft, the exercise will include HAZMAT with fuel, unique response to composite materials, and mass casualties. The aircraft is composed of carbonized type materials which, when aerosolized and inhaled, readily pierce the lungs and can be fatal without immediate treatment. The base would like to integrate its response with local agencies and encourage off-base participation. Involvement can consist of providing ambulance service, fire suppression, search and rescue, receipt and care of casualties as part of the National Disaster Medical Service agreement, or being an observer or exercise evaluator. The boy scouts and adult leaders will serve as casualty actors for the event. The Red Cross and Salvation Army will provide breakfast and lunch for casualty actors and response personnel. Exercise kick-off has been set for 1:00 pm and will run through the afternoon until all the casualties and treated, transported, and released. A preplanning meeting for response agency chiefs has been scheduled for 28 June at 1:30 pm in the OSS Theatre located in Wing Headquarters Bldg. A final walk-through and base tour has been scheduled for 28 July at 9:00 am in the Capehart Theatre. Any agency interested in participating needs to send at least one representative to the final walk-through meeting on 28 July. Chairman Fliehmann mentioned that the base exercise will function as the annual HAZMAT exercise for Sarpy County. He requested that LEPC members let him know if they want to observe and/or participate in some way or another. Coordinator Mastandrea said the same holds true for the exercise of the Omaha/Council Bluffs Sub Area Contingency Plan on 8 November at the Pottawattamie County National Guard Armory. That plan deals with spills on the Missouri River between Iowa and Nebraska and involves 6 counties, 2 states, and at least 2 federal agencies.

Financial: Ken Noel was unable to attend, so Chairman Fliehmann gave the report. Chairman Fliehmann stated that we currently have a negative balance. e are still waiting to receive reimbursement from the EPA grant. Chairman Fliehmann encouraged contributions from anyone interested to help get back into the black.

Legislative: Coordinator Mastandrea informed the committee that the next SERC Meeting has been scheduled for 17 July at 1:00 pm at the National Guard Armory in Lincoln. Chairman Fliehmann asked if anything came out of the legislation pending this year. Coordinator Mastandrea said the Governor vetoed it and failed to override.

Outreach: Steve Young was unable to attend so Coordinator Mastandrea provided the report. Coordinator Mastandrea expressed thanks to Chairman Fliehmann for his efforts back in March to encourage folks to make donations to the LEPC. At the time, the Bellevue Leader planned to run a special section on emergency management. Thanks to an anonymous donor, the Bellevue Leader ran an advertisement for the LEPC in its special section and printed the Hazardous Materials Release/Evacuate/Shelter in Place Trifold Pamphlet in its entirety. We also placed an LEPC advertisement in the Offutt Airpulse along with some general emergency preparedness information. The Outreach Committee prepared the ad and secured a grant from EPA beforehand for reimbursement. Coordinator Mastandrea recommended that we use the money to send interested personnel to the SERC Conference if their employers are unable to cover the costs. The Conference is more expensive than the one 2 years ago. Based on the hotel costs, we should be able to send 1 person, possibly 2, if we receive the reimbursement in time. Coordinator Mastandrea proposed placing another LEPC ad, this time in West Sarpy County. Funding, recouped through reimbursement, will enable Outreach to pursue other initiatives and start doing those on a regular basis. Commissioner Schram raised a concern about getting LEPC information out to people who live in unincorporated communities. Coordinator Mastandrea mentioned going to SID meetings, which has been done in the past, and soliciting community participation in local area exercises. Coordinator Mastandrea recommended targeting, on a priority basis, those communities nearest to a facility with potential for a transportation-related hazardous material release. Dan Peterson suggested distributing flyers along with the homeowner association newsletters. Establishing contact with people in unincorporated areas will take some effort and is something that Outreach can work on. Coordinator Mastandrea briefed on one other upcoming Outreach effort that might involve some very direct input from the LEPC. The SERC plans to use part of its outreach budget to do a coordinated outreach effort at the Nebraska School Board Association Conference in November. They plan to send out the PSA similar to what we showed last meeting and distribute pamphlets to raise chemical planning and response awareness within the schools. The intent is to teach the children about basic hazardous material awareness, shelter in place or evacuate, and they hope the effort will be as successful as "Stop, Drop, and Roll". We should anticipate requests from the schools for assistance with emergency planning and making presentations. If the children bring the information home and get parents involved, there might be some public contact as well. Outreach Committee is looking forward to this effort in November.

Plans: Matt Wallace had no additional updates on response plans since much of the information was addressed in the Coordinator’s report. Coordinator Mastandrea talked about the Terrorism Annex that was added to the LEOP. This annex ended up as an appendix in Law Enforcement, was approved by all committee chiefs, and was sent out to the LEPC members for comment. Coordinator Mastandrea mentioned the EPA directive for this. Specifically, LEPCs can help their communities by incorporating counterrorism into their emergency operation plans. Once the committee members receive the LEOP update, Coordinator Mastandrea recommended reviewing the Terrorism annex along with the EPA guidance to determine if any improvements are needed.

Training: Dan Peterson briefly recapped the Tornado Spotter Training, Radiological Awareness Course, and Terrorism Awareness Training held during March and April. The Region VI SERC LEPC Conference will be held in Overland Park, Kansas starting 10:00 am on Friday 7 September through noon on Sunday 9 September. There will be mix of plenary sessions and technical breakouts. There are 4 tracks offered including Basics of LEPCs, Mechanics of LEPCs, Technology, and Topics of Special Interest. Coordinator Mastandrea will be a presenter at the Conference. Dan Peterson mentioned that anyone interested in attending should call the Sarpy County Emergency Management Office for assistance in getting registered. Coordinator Mastandrea mentioned that Commissioner Schram attended the Conference 2 years ago and asked for his feedback. Commissioner Schram stated that the conference was very beneficial and provided good background information about the functions of the LEPC.

OLD BUSINESS: None

NEW BUSINESS: Coordinator Mastandrea provided a weather update. There was a tornado on the ground in Northwestern Lancaster County, heading into Saunders and then our general vicinity.

Coordinator Mastandrea briefly described the upcoming TRANSCAER training opportunity in Lincoln on 18-19 September. Information was sent out in the last mailing and handouts were provided in the back of the room. Coordinator Mastandrea strongly encouraged maximum participation from both paid and volunteer firefighters. He emphasized that this unique training opportunity would not be available again for several years. Coordinator Mastandrea welcomed and introduced Mr. Lou Wagner from Union Pacific to talk about the TRANSCAER training opportunity.

Mr. Wagner provided an overview of the TRANSCAER program. TRANSCAER was started by the railroad and chemical companies and has been around now for 15 years. It is a national program whose objective is to work with LEPCs, SERCs, fire departments, and communities to ensure their emergency response plans address hazardous material transportation incidents like a tank car, tank truck, or pipeline rupture. TRANSCAER also assists LEPCs with flow study information, training and drills, and provides lessons learned from other communities that have conducted flow studies in their areas. he program has evolved to training-type tours which have proven very effective for working with communities. Mr. Wagner mentioned that he works on the National Team headquartered in Omaha and on the National Committee. The National Team has divided the country into different regions; Mr. Wagner heads up this region which encompasses 8 states, including Nebraska. The training tour will consist of training tank cars along with classroom cars, general awareness training on tank trucks and tank cars, and specialized training on chlorine releases from a railcar and anhydrous ammonia-type training. There will be some trucks from other transportation companies, and information booths sponsored by local, state, and federal agencies. The goal of this tour is to reach out 200 to 300 miles from each training location and draw in a majority of emergency responders. Mr. Wagner showed a 5-minute video of the East Coast TRANSCAER Whistle-Stop Tour from 2 years ago. He mentioned that this type tour was typically in town for half a day and then left. There also was a lot of public present. The upcoming training tour in Lincoln will not include touring cars or passenger-type equipment and is strictly for emergency responders. Union Pacific and Burlington Northern are the 2 big sponsors. It will include locomotives that firefighters can train on because he’s found that many firefighters don’t really know how to put out a locomotive fire. He anticipates participation by Amtrak, as well as EPA and FEMA. The tour will involve 2 days of hard-core training.

Following his presentation, Mr. Wagner answered questions. Chairman Fliehmann asked if there were any class-size restrictions. Mr. Wagner replied that they expected to have enough equipment and repeat classes to accommodate anyone who shows up. He requested that personnel RSVP to Chairman Gary Gandara at (402) 458-7792 in order to get an idea of how many people might show up for training. Mr. Wagner can be reached at (402) 271-3520 to answer any further questions about the training. Commissioner Schram asked if rail personnel are trained to handle chemical spills. Mr. Wagner stated that some are and some are not. He mentioned that UP has about 50 contract companies specialized in cleaning up chemical spills. Depending upon the incident, the contractor would have to be trained and certified to work with the specific chemical product that was spilled.

Coordinator Mastandrea mentioned that 8-hr Hazwoper Refresher training would be offered during the SERC Conference. The class is limited to the first 50 people that sign up.

Chairman Fliehmann advised next meeting scheduled for 12 September, 7:30 pm at Bellevue Fire District 2, Avery Station. The HAZMAT Team will demonstrate their equipment and procedures.

Adjournment: With no further business, Chairman Fliehmann asked for a motion to adjourn. Motion made by Matt Wallace, seconded by everyone present. Motion carried.

Submitted by

MARIA REITER