Local Emergency Planning Committee (LEPC)

This page provides information about the Jerome County Local Emergency Planning Committee (LEPC). Meeting schedules, meeting minutes and other information may be found on this page. If you have a suggestion for an agenda item, or a question about the Jerome County LEPC please send an email to Chairman Tanya Stitt. In the subject line put: LEPC.

The Local Emergency Planning Committee is a product of federal legislation passed by Congress after the disaster in Bhopal, India, where thousands of people died from an accident involving hazardous chemicals. To prevent similar accidents in our communities, in 1986 Congress passed the Emergency Planning and Community Right to Know Act (EPCRA), also known as SARA Title III. EPCRA established requirements for businesses, and for federal, state, and local governments regarding emergency planning, and community-right-to-know reporting for hazardous chemicals. This helps increase public awareness about the presence of chemicals in their communities and any releases of these chemicals into the environment. The State of Idaho also enacted the Hazardous Substance Emergency Response Act (Idaho Code: Title 39, Chapter 71).

LEPCs are the link between citizens, industry and the government. The membership comes from the local area and is familiar with factors that affect public safety, the environment, and the economy of the community. In Jerome County the LEPC charter has been expanded beyond just chemical hazards to include information and discussion about emergency planning, training and exercising, educate the agencies/citizens with informational based power point presentations and workshops on numerous topics of interest related to emergency management, and address county incidents/events for an all hazards approach.