Manchin asks for faster reporting

Ken Ward of the Charleston Gazette reported on Thursday that Gov. Manchin is asking for changes to state law to require chemical companies to report serious incidents within 15 minutes. This would fall into the hands of the
West Virginia Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Management and a trip to their website is a good idea for those interested in emergency response preparation. The statute and regulations that would have to be changed by Gov. Manchin are at W Va Code 15-5B-4 and 170 CSR Series 1.

CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- Gov. Joe Manchin plans to seek legislation to require chemical companies to report explosions, leaks and other serious accidents within 15 minutes.
Manchin wants to apply a 15-minute reporting requirement for coal mining accidents to other industries.
The governor will within the next few days ask companies to voluntarily go along with the reporting requirement, and then seek legislation next year to write the reporting into state law.
Jimmy Gianato, Manchin's homeland security secretary, announced the plan this morning during a public debriefing on the emergency response to the Aug. 28 explosion at the Bayer CropScience plant in Institute.
Local citizens and emergency responders have complained that Bayer gave them little information on the incident until nearly two hours after the explosion. And Bayer waited more than two hours to formally report the incident to the federal government's National Response Center.
"We want to make sure that information comes in and gets out to the responders and the public," Gianato said.
Manchin pushed through landmark legislation requiring coal companies report major accidents within 15 minutes after delays in the reporting of the Sago Mine disaster and the Aracoma Mine fire in January 2006.
Also during Thursday's meeting, Kanawha County officials said that they would begin issuing shelter-in-place advisories to residents if chemical companies don't provide details within 10 minutes of any future in-plant incidents.
Dale Petry, the county's emergency services director, said he does not want to take chances on waiting until it's too late to issue such an advisory.