§11005 Emergency Training and Review of Emergency Systems

Summary

Federal officials must provide special training and education for federal, state, and local workers on preventing and handling hazards. The training covers hazard reduction, emergency planning, fire control, disaster response and recovery, national security, and both natural and technological dangers. It gives extra attention to hazards from dangerous chemicals. For fiscal years 1987, 1988, 1989, and 1990, $5,000,000 is authorized each year for FEMA to give grants to state and local governments and to university programs that improve emergency planning, preparedness, mitigation, response, and recovery, with a focus on hazardous-chemical emergencies. Each grant can pay no more than 80 percent of a program’s cost; the other 20 percent must come from non-Federal sources. This does not limit other FEMA funding. The FEMA Administrator must begin, within 30 days after October 17, 1986, a review of systems that monitor, detect, and prevent releases of extremely hazardous substances at representative facilities. The Administrator may pick substances from the list in section 11002(a). An interim report to Congress is due within seven months after October 17, 1986, and a final report within 18 months after that date. The reports must say how well current technology can detect, identify, measure, and track releases; the status of public alert systems for releases into air, surface water, or groundwater; and whether perimeter alert systems are technically and economically feasible. The reports must also recommend steps to develop better detection technologies and to improve public warning systems.