Navigating Natural Hazards: New Rules for Chemical Safety in Hurricane Season

Hurricanes, Floods, and High Winds 

Hurricane season began on June 1, and we have already seen the first named storm of the season – Tropical Storm Alberto, which made landfall and lashed the Texas coast with rain and high winds. The National Weather Service is predicting an above-normal 2024 hurricane season, including 4-7 major hurricanes. In this blog, we dive into some of the new rules that the chemical industry is facing and how organizations can intertwine emergency response planning into this year's hurricane season.

Following President Biden’s day-one executive order (EO 13990: Protective Public Health and the Environment and Restoring Science to Tackle the Climate Crisis), the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has recently finalized rules that are intended to prevent accidental releases of chemicals into air and water. Some facilities will need to evaluate the risks posed by natural hazards – including, but not limited to, hurricanes – when conducting their hazard reviews or process hazard analyses.

EPA believes that natural hazards have the potential to initiate accidents that threaten human health and the environment, and that planning for severe weather events is critical as these events become more common and intense due to climate change. Consideration of the risks of accidental releases posed by natural hazards, along with any controls that can address that risk, are necessary to protect human health and the environment.

What does EPA consider a natural hazard? 

In the revised Risk Management Plan (RMP) rule, EPA defines natural hazard to mean meteorological, climatological, environmental or geological phenomena that have the potential for negative impact, accounting for impacts due to climate change. Some of the examples that EPA provides include extreme weather such as coastal flooding, hurricanes, tornados, but also more common weather conditions like heat waves, strong winds, ice storms, and hail. Put simply, if there’s an external weather condition that could impact your facility’s operations and result in an accidental release, you may want to consider if that condition could create additional risks at your facility.

What are the new requirements? 

EPA has finalized two rules that describe the need to evaluate the risks of natural hazards: the Risk Management Plan (RMP) rule, and the Clean Water Act Hazardous Substance Facility Response Plan rule.  

The RMP rule has been around for several decades and is intended to prevent accidental releases that result in offsite impacts from chemical facilities and refineries. EPA finalized new changes that clarify that facilities must consider natural hazards in a hazard review or Process Hazard Analysis, and determine what, if any, safeguards may be needed to prevent an accidental release. 

In addition, covered facilities must now address the risk of power failure and standby or emergency power systems as part of the PHA. While facilities will not be required to implement standby or emergency power for an RMP process, facilities should consider the appropriateness of backup power for their process and must explain decisions not to implement backup power. 

However, where facilities have monitoring equipment associated with the prevention and detection of accidental releases, this equipment is required to have standby or backup power. EPA wants monitoring equipment up and running in the event of a natural disaster that knocks out power, so that owners and operators will know if there is a release and can inform first responders and the local community if needed.

In addition to the revised RMP rule, EPA has also recently finalized a new rule that requires some facilities to plan for worst-case discharges of Clean Water Act hazardous substances. Owners and operators subject to this rule must prepare and submit a plan for responding to a worst-case discharge and a substantial threat of such a discharge. Professionals developing this plan should assess the possible hazards to human health and the environment, including consideration of impacts to environmental justice communities and the impacts of climate change. Here, EPA notes that the consideration of climate change impacts should include but is not limited to increased intensity and frequency of extreme events, such as storm surges and inland and coastal flooding.

The facility response plan should also identify and describe response personnel and equipment needed to respond to a worst case discharge and detail the response actions to be carried out by personnel to ensure the safety of the facility and to mitigate or prevent a discharge. 

These regulations have additional requirements that may affect emergency response preparedness actions, whether the emergency is caused by a natural hazard or not. Process Safety, EHSS, engineering, and operations professionals should familiarize themselves with the rules and seek assistance from compliance and legal professionals where appropriate.

Revising Regulations and Emergency Response Planning

The Biden Administration is concerned about the possible impact of climate change on the increasing frequency or strength of natural hazards, and EPA is increasingly pointing to natural hazards – including hurricanes – when creating or revising regulations. Chemical manufacturers and distributors may want to check and see if they’re subject to these new rules and other relevant regulations and factor that into their emergency response planning for this year’s hurricane season. 

To learn more about how organizations can prepare for this hurricane season and other natural disasters check out our Top 10 Tips for Hurricane Preparedness.

Reach out to Consulting Solutions team at crisissolutions@chemtrec.com or Request a Quote to learn more about emergency response planning, crisis management, training, and business continuity.