LEPC Meeting Minutes_11.9.20221
November 9, 2022, 11:00 AM
New Hanover County EOC (In-Person) and Teams
Attendance
Name Business Name Business
Tim Barefoot SR&R Environmental, Inc. Holden Shepard Cape Fear Public Utility
Authority
John Booth Kinder Morgan Lt. Chris L. Smith New Hanover County Sheriff’s
Office
Kevin Cowan Seaside Safety Teresa Smith NHC Emergency Management,
LEPC Chair
Allen Hancock NC Dept. of Transportation Ron Stancil Sturdy Corporation
Audrey Hart NHC Emergency
Management John Stephenson City of Wilmington Fire
Department
Stan Harts Alcami Corporation David Stone NHC Fire Department
Billy Howard NHRMC Emergency Medical
Services Mark Venters GE Hitachi/Global Nuclear
Fuels
Tina Kuhr GE Hitachi, LEPC Secretary Philip Watts Colonial Terminals
Robin Lorenzen NC Dept. of Emergency
Management Linda Willis NC Dept of Natural Resources
Frank Meyer NHC Fire & Rescue Randy Wright HEPACO
Rhonda Olson UNC Wilmington
Welcome and Introductions - The meeting was called to order by Teresa Smith, LEPC Chair at 11:03
AM. Teresa welcomed those in attendance. Focus is end of the year business meeting. SR&R provided
lunch for the attendees.
Review and Approval of Minutes – Mark Venters moved that the minutes of the September 14, 2022,
meeting be accepted; Frank Meyers seconded the motion. The minutes were approved.
Membership Announcements:
There were several new members attending today.
Pender County will be forming their own LEPC in 2023 due to growth in the number of companies
doing Tier 2 reporting. Pender County will still work together with NHC on projects, drills, etc.
Training Updates
Teresa Smith stated that the Hazmat Functional Exercise will be held December 1 from 0800-1400 in
the NHC EOC. Those planning to attend need to register in TERMS so she can get a head count plan
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for the appropriate room size and lunch. The scenario will involve a Hazmat incident in an urbanized
area along a major traffic corridor during primary commuting hours. This will be a functional,
operations-based exercise from beginning to end but will not deploy resources and equipment. The
plan is to hold a full-scale exercise in 2023. She stressed the importance of relationship building for
preparedness.
There was a discussion of communications and interoperability lessons learned from recent exercise
with the Wilmington airport.
There will be an HMEP exercise on December 16. Anna McRay is heading it up. It will exercise the
family assistance plan based on a Hazmat incident.
Committee Updates
Emergency Planning/Response – This committee is planning the December 1 Functional Exercise as
well as the2023 Cape Fear Emergency Planning Conference to be held in the April-May time frame.
Teresa is working with Convention Center to determine the exact date. The county received a grant
extension until end of May for the funding. There is the potential to hold HAZWOPER refresher
training either before or after the conference. Let Teresa know by December 15 of topics for
conference, classes, breakout sessions. The plan is to have three general sessions in the morning
with several breakouts in the afternoon.
Community Education/Public Awareness – This committee was not very active in 2022. They
invited all new Tier 2 facilities to join the LEPC. Tina Kuhr, Teresa Smith, and Linda Willis will focus on
membership recruitment in 2023.
Open Forum
The Clean Land Harbor exercise is scheduled for November 10, 2022.
Mark Venters thanked those agencies that participated in GNF-A offsite agency training. The
biennial exercise in June was successful. The site will need to do another exercise in 2023.
Regional Response Team (RRT) 2 did a presentation to DEQ. They are also doing a WMD/Sea
Bunny drill at CFCC with RRT 3, EOD, and Sunny Point next week.
The Wilmington Fire Department drone program up and running.
North Carolina Emergency Management was involved with the recent elections and response
to Tropical Storm Nicole.
Alcami is growing, especially in the Research Triangle Park area.
NHRMC Emergency Medical Services is trying to expand and recruit to serve the area’s growing
population.
Wilmington Fire Department is also expanding to keep up with growth. There is a lot of growth
in the area where the December 1 drill is set.
New Hanover County Sheriff’s Office is seeing an increasing number of requests for active
shooter training from private organizations. They have training curriculum they are willing to
provide. The US Postal Service has good information on dealing with suspicious packages. Lt.
Smith discussed their protocol for searches and dealing with suspicious packages, suspected
devices, and bomb threats. Their priority is personnel safety.
2023 LEPC Officer Elections
Tina Kuhr announced the results of the elections for 2023: Chair – Teresa Smith; Vice Chair – Billy
Howard; and Secretary – Tina Kuhr
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Next LEPC Meeting
The next meeting scheduled for January 11, 2023, at 11:00 AM. The location is still to be determined.
The dates for the other meetings in 2023 are: March 8, May 10, July 12, September 13, and November
8.
Adjournment – Mark Venters made the motion to adjourn; Captain Chris Smith seconded. The meeting
was adjourned at approximately 12:05.