Transcript Border Contingency Planning and Emergency Response
U.S./Mexico Border Contingency Planning and Emergency Response NRT/RRT Co-Chairs Meeting Albuquerque, New Mexico March 2003
Dan Meer, Chief Response, Planning and Assessment Branch EPA Region 9 - San Francisco
Key Programs
U.S./Mexico Joint Response Team Border 2012 Program Contingency Planning – Sister City Plans Joint Exercises Training Hazard Assessment HazMat and Emergency Response Resources
Joint US/Mexico Inland Contingency Plan (JCP)
Key Responsibilities
Policies Notifications Prevention and Planning Response Operations Binational Preparedness Training Exercises
U.S./Mexico Joint Inland Contingency Plan
Objectives
Provide a bi-national coordination mechanism Assure appropriate and effective cooperative preparedness and response mechanisms between the U.S. and Mexico Develop incident notification systems and protocols
U.S./Mexico Joint Inland Contingency Plan
Key Aspects Creates organizational structure for coordinating response efforts Establishes Joint Response Team (JRT) and the Issue/Incident-Specific Joint Response Team (ISJRT).
Establishes notification procedures, response operations, roles and responsibilities of agencies Recognizes that initial responsibility for incident response rests with local authorities.
BORDER 2012 PROGRAM GOALS
#1 #2 #3 #4 #5 Reduce water contamination Reduce air pollution Reduce land contamination Reduce exposure, particularly children’s exposure, to pesticides Reduce exposure to chemicals as a result of accidental chemical releases and/or acts of terrorism
Border 2012
Goal #5:
Reduce exposure to chemicals as a result of accidental chemical release and/or deliberate acts of terrorism Objective 1: By 2004, have chemical emergency advisory/notification mechanisms in place Objective 2: By 2008, have all 14 sister cities joint contingency plans in place and operating (including exercises), including bi-national committees for chemical emergency prevention (or similar border forums).
Objective 3: By 2012, 50 percent of sister city joint contingency plans supplemented with preparedness and prevention related efforts, such as risk and consequence analysis, risk reduction, ct, etc.
Status of Sister City Plans
To date, ten (10) sister city plans have been developed.
Brownsville/Matamoros; Eagle Pass/Piedras Negras; Laredo/Nuevo Laredo; McAllen/Reynosa; Nogales/Nogales; San Luis/San Luis; Del Rio/Ciudad Acuna; Cochise County/Naco; Columbus/Ascension-Puerto Las Palomas; and Douglas/Agua Prieta.
Sister City Plans in Progress
Sister cities working to develop their contingency plans, include: City/County of San Diego/Tijuana El Paso/Ciudad Juarez Weslaco/Rio Bravo Progresso Norte Presidio/Ojinaga
Border Exercises
Two terrorism-related
field exercises were held in Eagle Pass/Piedras Negras (Sept 02) and Mexicali/ Calexico (Dec 02).
Table-top exercise held in Santa Cruz County, CA and Nogales, Sonora.
In 2003/2004, bio terrorism exercises
scheduled for McAllen, Laredo, and El Paso, Texas and Cochise County/Naco, Sonora.
Contingency Planning and Emergency Response Training
ICS/UC training held in Mexicali, Baja CA and Brownsille, TX.
Hazardous Materials Awareness and
Response course in Mexicali, Baja CA.
Hazardous materials workshop for first
responders for 250 participants in Eagle Pass/Piedras Negras and Del Rio/Ciudad Acuna.
Field Operations Guide (FOG) course in
Spanish for 150 participants in Brownsville/ Matamoros and Eagle Pass/Piedras Negras.
Conducting Hazards Assessment
Hazardous Materials commodity flow studies completed in the following sister cities: Calexico, CA (February 2001);
Eagle Pass, TX/Piedras Negras, Coahuila
(March 2002); San Diego, CA (June 2001); and
Brownsville, TX/Matamoros, Tamaulipas
(April 2002).
Commodity flow study for El Paso,
TX/Cuidad Juarez, Chihuahua should be completed in 2003.
Border Waste Tire Pile Project
1. ID Pile Locations 2. Characterize Piles 3. Recommendations Fire Prevention - Response Planning 4. Share Findings Binational commitment and actions to prevent tire fires
Gaining emergency response resources
EPA assistance to sister cities in obtaining emergency response resources includes: Hazmat Trailer stocked with decontamination equipment for the City of Calexico (used in recent Imperial County/Mexicali cross border exercise) and Specialized hazardous material emergency response and environmental sampling van.
Annual border-wide activities of the U.S./Mexico border program
Call-down notification exercises of the JCP notification procedures Joint Response Team meetings National Coordinators meeting as part of the requirements of the La Paz Agreement.
Additional Resources & Information
USEPA HQ Kim Jennings 202.564.7998
USEPA Region 6 Fendol Chiles 214.665.2283
USEPA Region 9 Lauren Volpini 415.972.3076
Updated information on the U.S./Mexico border program can be found on the CEPPO website at:
http://yosemite.epa.gov/oswer/ceppoweb.
nsf/content/ip-bilateral.htm#mexicoborder