Regulation related to EPA-emergency-services

Choose a regulation related to EPA-emergency-services and suggest a change in the regulation . Explain your suggestion The EPA regulation which I believe could be altered to improve the effectiveness is the Emergency Planning and Community Right to Know Act (EPCRA). This Act was passed in 1986 with the concern for the dangers posed by toxic chemicals. A community and its residents can be greatly affected by the storing and transportation of toxic chemicals in an area. The Act focused on emergency planning and reporting of toxic chemicals. This way in the event of a disaster emergency response personnel can be better prepared for an incident involving a release of toxic chemicals. One of the more important topics that the Act covers is training for a potential scenario involving the toxic chemicals at a facility. Being prepared for events like this can greatly improve how smoothly a HAZMAT event can go. Providing the material safety data sheets, and precautions the facility has taken in order to prevent a release of toxic chemicals will be helpful to the first responders. The Act touches on the importance of knowing what other facilities of importance are in the area, like hospitals and natural gas facilities. Other places of importance that the regulation does not mention is the proximity of nursing homes and elderly housing to facilities that store and transport toxic chemicals. The code does not mention these places of importance, although they will be important to the emergency planning of first responders, as these are places that are nearly impossible to evacuate. One of my other main concerns that the regulation talks about is the punishment for not reporting the presence of toxic chemicals at a facility. The punishment of not providing information on the presence of toxic chemicals at a facility is subject to "be fined not more than $25,000 or imprisoned for not more than two years, or both" (US Code Title 42, 2011). The second offense results in a fine of not more than $50,000, or a prison sentence of not more than five years, or both. As the Act was written in 1986 inflation has increased the value of the dollar over time. The code does not appear to show any signs of these penalties being a increased since they were written, and $25,000 to a company handling toxic chemicals might not be that much money. Often times companies that deal with toxic chemicals are quite wealthy, as they are dangerous and handling and storing these types of chemicals is very profitable for a company. For this reason, I think that the fines should be increased. By increasing the fine amounts companies will be more likely to follow the regulation. This will help to keep the community and its residents safer, as well as the first responders. By increasing the amount the amount of the fines companies will be deterred by trying to cut costs by avoiding compliance with the regulation. The Act was originally created because of an event that occurred in India resulting in more than 2000 injuries or deaths. As currently written a company that has the capability of causing a similar type of catastrophe would only be fined $25,000 and sentenced to two years in prison for not complying with the regulation. That seems like an awfully small punishment for a potentially catastrophic event.