BILLINGS - In 1984, one of the worst industrial accidents in history took place in Bhopal, India.
A gas leak at the Union Carbide pesticide plant killed more than 3,000 people and exposed hundreds of thousands to toxic chemicals.
It also brought changes to how responses to disasters are planned for in the United States.
Following the tragedy in Bhopal, Congress mandated that jurisdictions form Local Emergency Planning Committees (LEPCs).
“The gist of an LEPC is to create response plans for chemicals and hazardous materials,” says KC Williams, the emergency management director for Yellowstone County.
Williams calls the Billings area a hotspot when it comes to the transport of hazardous materials.
“Between railroad, the energy companies, the pipelines, the interstates, manufacturing, I guess from an emergency management standpoint, a hotbed for hazmat. So there is a lot of potential,” Williams says.
There’s a lot of potential for accidents or even disasters. You don’t have to look far to see some of the potential hazards.
LEPCs must include elected officials, police and fire, as well as environmental, transportation, and hospital officials and representatives of facilities that have hazardous materials or chemicals on site, plus other stakeholders.
“It is truly the community that comes together to identify hazards and threats in our community and come up with plans to either mitigate it or respond to it. So it’s really important, because there is no other format where all of those pieces come together,“ Williams says.
All industries that have certain quantities or types of chemicals and hazardous materials are required to report them. Williams says it’s the LEPC’s responsibility to make sure those companies comply with regulations and to keep up with those lists of hazardous materials.
Along with meeting and coming up with the plans, the LEPC makes sure those plans are practiced.
“The hope is to create relationships before we have a large event so we know who our response partners are and we have practiced and we have trained and hopefully we are well prepared for whatever hazard would come our way,” says LEPC chair Jennifer Staton.
While an event like the recent train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, would present a huge challenge in Billings, or anywhere, Williams believes the local area would be better prepared because of the public and private partnership that makes up the LEPC.
“Ultimately everything is about, how can we recover? How speedy can we get over an issue? And LEPCs—the LEPC here brings a lot to the table to help us formulate those plans and execute them,” he says.
