and told the fire service had large quantities of contaminated water, and 

 asked what should be done. Preplanning of such incidents with the property 

 owner, the fire personnel, environmental people, and perhaps even insurance 

 companies could have substantially changed the outcome of several of these 

 incidents that have been reported. 



As mentioned earlier, in most transportation situations the liability for 

 cleaning up a spill rests with the carrier. On some occasions, the carrier is 

 the shipper, who uses his own private transportation. In the vast majority of 

 the cases, however, the carrier is a transportation company, such as a rail- 

 road, trucking company, or barge line. 



This comment does not imply in any way that the shipper does not have 

 concern. The entire emergency response system as established by the chemical 

 industry and others, and as coordinated by the communication system of 

 Chemtrec, is predicated on the shipper having a positive interest in pro- 

 tecting people and the environment to such extent as he can. 



In many instances, this support of the emergency services of those in- 

 volved can be handled by telephone. It must be realized at this point that 

 the majority of the incidents handled on a day to day basis are not the type 

 of thing that involves the environmental contingency plan. Most incidents 

 are the pesky little problems that bother truck drivers or rail yard operators 

 and consist of small quantities of material released either through a leaking 

 drum or valve on a car, a broken rupture disc, or any of the numerous things 

 that happen where the quantities of the material involved are small but where 

 the concern to the uninformed individual with whom they are in contact is 

 great. 



In reviewing the proposed environmental regulations, the reportable 

 quantities vary from 1 pound of the very bad materials up to 5,000 pounds 

 of some of the less troublesome products. In the typical drum problem, the 

 situation is one of a leaking container which will usually contain less than 

 500 pounds of material . 



A typical tank car leakage problem will often involve small quantities 

 of vapor or liquid escaping through an open vent valve or a leaking bottom 

 outlet. Again, this is in terms of pounds and gallons rather than reportable 

 quantities of most products. 



However, when the serious incidents do occur, it is quite important that 

 those individuals who are involved in such activities notify Chemtrec for two 

 reasons. First, if it is a product on which one has little or no information, 

 Chemtrec normally can provide immediate action guidance. Secondly, companies 

 want to be notified of such incidents, and Chemtrec in turn, has this 

 capability. To summarize Chemtrec' s interest in the problem when spills 

 occur, it is important that correct steps be taken as rapidly as possible. 

 It is important that the shipper or manufacturer be notified so he can con- 

 tribute his expertise to assist in resolution of the problem. 



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