The Journal recently reported that The Anderson County Fire Department is involved in the creation of a vehicle modified to fight ethanol fires with an alcohol resistant foam. The vehicle will be available, if needed, to respond to an emergency situation involving ethanol which is being transported through the area by rail to a blending facililty located in the Cheddar community.
The vehicle is being funded by the Local Emergency Planning Commission, or LEPC, a board which oversees the disbursement of funds which are generated by a mechanism known as Tier Two Reporting. Tier Two Reporting is a requirement of state law which says that certain businesses or industries or other commercial entities which use or manufacture or store hazardous materials in amounts, and at levels, beyond certain thresholds, must report those conditions to the appropriate authorities.
Those entities are then billed according to a formula so that the entities producing a potential hazard are also helping to pay to establish the means for handling that hazard, should it occur. In the case of the foam truck the ACFD is constructing, $45,000 was obtained from the LEPC.
As reported in an earlier article, Tier Two Reporting records at the Anderson County Emergency Planning Department reflect no contribution by either the Lincoln Oil Co., which imports and blends ethanol, nor by the Greenville & Western Railroad, LLC which transports the ethanol in railroad tanker cars.
As a transporter, the Greenville & Western Railroad is not required to report to the county under the Tier Two requirements.
SCDHEC spokesman Adam Myrick stated in a telephone interview with The Journal earlier this week that Tier Two reporting is usually required from stationary storage facilities and not the portable storage performed by railroads.
The Greenville & Western Railroad, through its attorneys, challenged the original story, claiming that it “clearly implies that the Greenville & Western is not complying with applicable state and federal laws pursuant to EPCRA reporting and financial requirements.” The railroad’s attorney asked that a public apology, a retraction, and a clarification be published.
While The Journal stands by the original story which states only there was no record of contribution made by either party associated with the transport and storage of a hazardous material (ethanol) with Anderson County, neither Stan Welch nor The Journal did intend to imply that the G&W Railroad was out of complaince with applicable state and federal law concerning EPCRA reporting requirements.
The Journal attempts to report news and issues of interest to the communities we serve in an accurate and informative manner.
In a response to the attorney representing the Greenville & Western Railway that The Journal is publishing “repeated false and defamatory statements regarding the Greenville & Western, LLC,” The Journal management requested that a representative of the Greenville & Western Railroad contact them to discuss any article or inaccuracy published in the past. As of press time, there had been no response.
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