Fort Bend County
Office of Emergency Management

The Fort Bend County Local Emergency Planning Committee (LEPC) was formed in the summer of 1987 under the Federal Guidelines of SARA Title III (EPCRA) and the Texas Hazard Communications Act of 1986. This legislation was passed as a result of the 1983 Bhopal India, tragedy where an accidental chemical release from a Union Carbide plant, killed 2,500 people.

Membership in the Fort Bend County LEPC comes from different agencies throughout the county such as industry, area Fire Departments, Emergency Medical Services, Fort Bend County agencies, local merchants, and county residents. This sharing of knowledge and resources maximizes the coordination of the LEPC. The Chairman, Vice Chairman, and Secretary are all elected by the members of the LEPC.

Non-profit Status

The LEPC program was passed as an unfunded mandate, meaning that no Federal or State operational funding has been designated for LEPCs to complete their mission. Therefore, the LEPC functions as a Non-profit organizations (501-C3) independent of Federal, State, or local government. The LEPC relies mainly on donations of cost and materials from industries and grants from the Texas Department of Health and Governor's Division of Emergency Management.

Activities

The Fort Bend County LEPC is very active in many aspects of Hazardous Materials Planning, Mitigation, Response, and Recovery. The LEPC has developed many data collection projects to determine the magnitude of risks and vulnerabilities to HazMat events, as a result of grant funding from the Governor's Division of Emergency Management. Examples of these projects include a Highway Commodity Flow Survey, a Railroad Transport Risk Analysis, a Demographical Risk and Vulnerability Analysis, a Telephone Citizen Attitudinal Survey, a Warning and Alert Analysis, and an LEPC Hazardous Material Awareness Training.

The results of these studies indicate that risks of hazardous materials incidents can come from transport incidents on the highways and railroads, industry fixed site releases, pipeline failure as well as wellhead releases from oil and gas fields. This affirms the importance of jurisdictions and agencies remaining prepared to respond.

TIER II Reports 

Facilities covered by Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act (EPCRA) requirements must submit an Emergency and Hazardous Chemical Inventory Form to the Local Emergency Planning Committee (LEPC), the State Emergency Response Commission (SERC), and the local fire department annually. Facilities provide a Tier II form.

TIER II Texas Reporting Requirements can be found at Texas Department of State Health Services. Fort Bend County LEPC prefers the TIER II reportsto be sent electronically using the Tier 2 submit software.   Please email TIER II reports to Janette Walker.   Please include [fbczipfile] in the subject line of the email.

Contact

The Fort Bend County Local Emergency Planning Committee
(281) 633-7096

Meetings

Monthly (Every Third Thursday)
Time: 3:00 pm
Location: Fort Bend County Office of Emergency Management