I 
117TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION 
H. R. 861 
To amend the Emergency Planning and Community Right-To-Know Act of 
1986 to require an emergency notification meeting in the event of the 
release of an extremely hazardous substance from a facility, and for 
other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
FEBRUARY 5, 2021 
Ms. BLUNT ROCHESTER (for herself, Ms. MATSUI, Ms. NORTON, Mr. CARSON, 
Ms. LEE of California, Mrs. WATSON COLEMAN, and Mr. CASTEN) intro-
duced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Energy 
and Commerce 
A BILL 
To amend the Emergency Planning and Community Right- 
To-Know Act of 1986 to require an emergency notifica-
tion meeting in the event of the release of an extremely 
hazardous substance from a facility, and for other pur-
poses. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Alerting Localities of 
Environmental Risks and Threats Act of 2021’’. 
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SEC. 2. PUBLIC MEETINGS ADDED. 
(a) EMERGENCY NOTIFICATION MEETING.—Section 
304(b) of the Emergency Planning and Community Right- 
To-Know Act of 1986 (42 U.S.C. 11004(b)) is amended 
by adding at the end the following new paragraph: 
‘‘(3) PUBLIC
MEETING.—Not later than 72 
hours after a release which requires notice under 
subsection (a), the owner or operator of the applica-
ble facility shall— 
‘‘(A) publish a notice in a local newspaper, 
and post such notice at a local library and other 
local government buildings and on the public 
website for the facility, if any, with at least 24 
hours notice, of a public meeting, including— 
‘‘(i) the date of such meeting; 
‘‘(ii) the time of such meeting; and 
‘‘(iii) the location of such meeting; 
and 
‘‘(B) hold such meeting, providing, con-
sistent with section 322, the information re-
quired under paragraph (2), to the extent such 
information is known at the time of the meeting 
and so long as no delay in responding to the 
emergency results.’’. 
(b) ANNUAL PUBLIC MEETING.—Subtitle A of the 
Emergency Planning and Community Right-To-Know Act 
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of 1986 (42 U.S.C. 11001 et seq.) is amended by adding 
at the end the following new section: 
‘‘SEC. 306. ANNUAL PUBLIC MEETING. 
‘‘Not later than 1 year after the date of enactment 
of this section, and annually thereafter, the owner or oper-
ator of a facility subject to the requirements of this sub-
title shall— 
‘‘(1) publish a notice in a local newspaper, at 
least 7 days in advance, of a public meeting, includ-
ing— 
‘‘(A) the date of such meeting; 
‘‘(B) the time of such meeting; and 
‘‘(C) the location of such meeting; and 
‘‘(2) hold such meeting, providing, consistent 
with section 322— 
‘‘(A) the chemical name of each substance 
on the list published under section 302(a) that 
was present at such facility, in an amount in 
excess of the threshold planning quantity estab-
lished for such substance under such section, at 
any time in the preceding calendar year; 
‘‘(B) an estimate of the maximum amount 
of each such substance present at such facility 
during the preceding calendar year; and 
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‘‘(C) the details of the methods and proce-
dures to be followed to respond to a release of 
such a substance pursuant to the applicable 
emergency 
plan 
prepared 
under 
section 
303(c).’’. 
(c) ENFORCEMENT.—Section 325(c)(1) of the Emer-
gency Planning and Community Right-To-Know Act of 
1986 (42 U.S.C. 11045(c)(1)) is amended by striking 
‘‘section 312’’ and inserting ‘‘section 306, 312,’’. 
(d) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of contents 
in section 300(b) of the Emergency Planning and Commu-
nity Right-To-Know Act of 1986 is amended by adding 
after the item relating to section 305 the following: 
‘‘Sec. 306. Annual public meeting.’’. 
Æ 
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