Under the Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act (EPCRA), chemical facilities with certain quantities of Extremely Hazardous Substances (EHSs) must annually submit facility information to the local authorities for emergency planning and response purposes.

NOAA and EPA co-develop two programs to help people prepare and manage that facility data, and the latest versions--Tier2 Submit 2014 and CAMEOfm 3.1 --were released on October 14.

Tier2 Submit provides a way for facilities to complete the EPCRA Tier II form electronically, and then submit files or paper copies according to their state's requirements. More than 20 states and territories use Tier2 Submit. Tier2 Submit files can be imported into CAMEOfm to generate database records in the Facilities, Chemicals in Inventory, and Contacts modules.

CAMEOfm users can also enter other emergency response and planning information into the database--for example, details on past incidents or locations (such as hospitals and schools) that might require additional resources during a chemical incident. CAMEOfm can also be used as a hub to interact with the other programs in the CAMEO softwaresuite to find out about chemical hazards, model chemical releases, and generate maps.

For more information, contact Mark.W.Miller@noaa.gov.

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