State EPCRA review: 3,759 Tier 2 filings in FY2024 and push to electronic reporting

Beth Donaldson, EPCRA coordinator at the Alabama Department of Environmental Management, opened the meeting with a broad review of the federal law that created state emergency response commissions and local planning obligations.

"The whole purpose of EPCRA is to help communities prepare to respond to chemical emergencies," Donaldson said, outlining the 1986 law’s goals of transparency, responder information access and public protection. She told attendees that ADEM serves as the state’s data repository for facilities required to file under EPCRA and that the agency has updated online resources for responders.

Donaldson presented filing totals for the most recent reporting year. She said ADEM recorded 3,759 Tier 2 reports for FY2024 and noted 1,552 of those were filed via the EPA’s Tier2 Submit portal; the remainder were filed through electronic portals ADEM manages or partners with to provide interactive access for responders.

She stressed the operational benefit of digital reporting: e‑plan allows first responders and local emergency managers to retrieve facility chemical inventories, locations and hazard categories quickly during an incident. Donaldson also flagged federal regulatory updates: certain long‑lived "forever chemicals" are being added to federal reporting lists, and the hazard categories used on Tier 2 forms will be updated next year to align with OSHA’s hazardous‑communication standard.

ADEM staff offered to provide trainings and one‑on‑one assistance for local offices that still rely on paper or manual data entry. Donaldson closed by directing attendees to the updated EPCRA web resources and contact information she provided during the presentation.