New Hanover County LEPC Minutes 8.10.2016New Hanover County LEPC Minutes
August 10, 2016 @ NHC EOC
The following persons signed the roster indicating they were in attendance:
NAME BUSINESS NAME BUSINESS
Mark Venters GE Hitachi Ricky Gibbs NHC Environmental Health
Steve Mason WFD Steve Mason WFD
Frank Meyer New Hanover Co Fire Elizabeth Meyer INVISTA
Teresa Smith New Hanover Co EM Billy Howard NHRMC EMS
Tommy Grady NHCSO David Solerzano NC Ports
Tommy Batson Pender Co. EM Chad Mallett NC Ports
Randy Wright S & R Gneeda Hopkins ARC
Eric Hatcher CFPUA Patricia Lawler ARC
Elias Galloway Alcami Corporation John Mote HEPACO
Jim Batey Zulu Marine Alex Batey Zulu Marine
Heather Griffin NHC Health Dept.
Welcome and Introductions:
The 3rd quarter meeting, held at the NHC Emergency Operations Center, was called to order at 11:00
hours starting with introductions.
Membership announcements:
Teresa Smith discussed LEPC membership information for the upcoming November meeting so this can
be sent to the State. Meeting members were reminded that each entity has one voting member with
one proxy to stand-in as necessary. The November meeting should also address sub-committee
meetings and members. Eric Hatcher reminded members of the fall HazMat exercise at CFPUA Station 6
which they will oversee and allow City of Wilmington personnel to participate in.
Minutes:
A review of meeting minutes from the meeting on May 11th, 2016 resulted in approval.
Open Forum:
Frank Meyer, Steve Mason, Teresa Smith and others discussed the methanol leak exercise held at the
airport, and indicated the use of few simulations was good, temperatures were very hot, there were
good transitions with unified command, and the scope turned out larger than expected but remained
better organized based on efforts by Teresa Smith and Steven Still of NH Co EM. Other key comments
included that objectives were met, road needs provided by forestry & the airport demonstrated a great
networking of resources, and even though response was slow due to getting people on-scene, overall
the exercise was a success with lessons learned and take aways. Thanks to CSX for providing refresher
training.
New Business:
Prior to the start of new business, Hepaco surprised the LEPC with a pizza lunch so a short break was
taken for those to grab lunch before the meeting continued.
A preliminary discussion centered around the explosive industry presenting at the November meeting
about upcoming change requests for the State Ports. The discussion resulted in various questions from
various members centered around what should be presented like the allowable explosive weight limits,
explosive radius and risk, existing regulations, and various other topics. It was determined that no public
meeting was currently planned. Follow-up discussions were planned with explosive industry
representatives.
Mark Venters discussed upcoming offsite agency training at the GEH Wilmington site with New Hanover
County Sheriff, Fire and Emergency Management invited, plus Wilmington Fire Hazmat and New
Hanover Regional Medical Center EMS invited.
Eric Hatcher presented information on illegal dumping events in NC, with specifics on one event that
occurred in Charlotte Mecklenburg County area where PCBs were dumped into a manhole that resulted
in millions of dollars in damage and recovery expenses for water systems. The perpetrator was
eventually caught by the FBI. This type of impact to CFPUA in New Hanover Co could result in rate
increases for cost recovery.
Teresa Smith discussed remainder Tier II Grant funds and recommended use for public outreach, and
the LEPC discussed various outreach methods and their apparent successes.
After new business completed, the meeting was adjourned.
Sub-Committee Breakout Summaries:
None
Next LEPC Meeting:
The 4th quarter LEPC meeting is scheduled for November 9th @ 11:00am at the NHC EOC. The meeting
agenda will address annual business meeting items as well as include a presentation by the Institute of
Makes of Explosives.
LEPC Committees:
Executive Committee
Chairman- Kevin Cowan
Vice-Chairman- William Murrell III / Jay Gainer
Secretary- Mark Venters
Emergency Planning & Response Sub-Committee:
Chairman- Vacant
Members: Eric Hatcher, Mike Alexander, Jay Gainer, Billy Murrell, Frank Meyer, Linda Willis
Community Education & Public Response Sub-Committee:
Chairman- Dianne Harvell
Members- Charles Smith, Eric Griffin, Teresa Smith, Linda Willis