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Elkhorn Valley Local Emergency Planning Committee
Antelope, Madison, Pierce, Stanton & Wayne Counties of Nebraska
Five County Chemical Accident Exposure

  The five county area is exposed to hazardous materials accidents from two major sources:

  • Transportation accidents - trucks, rail, aircraft and pipelines

  • Releases from stationary sources that extend beyond the boundry of the facility

We would expect to have a higher probability of a spill from a transportation accident than from other sources, but our communities must be prepared to deal with an accident from any of the possibilities.

 

Truck traffic that is carrying hazardous material may be coming to our communities or it may simply be traveling through on its way to some other location. The Department of Transportation has numerous regulations and rules that are aimed at minimizing the effect of spills on communities and that help emergency response people identify what they are facing at the scene of a truck accident.

  • All trucks that are carrying hazardous materials will have the materials specifically identified on their shipping papers.

  • In some cases they will be placarded if they are carrying certain hazardous materials, in other cases they will be placarded only if they have over 1,000 pounds of the material on-board.

  • They will also have emergency response information on board if they are carrying hazardous material (generally in the form of the North American Emergency Response Guidebook).

The following table illustrates the volume of truck traffic on the major highways through our four county area during an average 24 hour period. It also illustrates the estimated number of trucks that are carrying hazardous materials (assumed 10%, which is probably low and which is certainly low durring the planting and early growing season).

HIGHWAYTRUCKS IN TOTALTRUCKS CARRYING HAZMAT
Madison County
U.S. 8191391
U.S. 27544244
NE 1219510
NE 3211011
NE 45859
Total Madison County1,645165
Pierce County
U.S. 8160661
U.S. 2036036
NE 1329029
NE 98838
Total Pierce County1,339134
Stanton County
U.S. 27581081
NE 1522523
NE 32818
NE 579810
NE 2424525
NE 3520521
Total Stanton County1,664168
Wayne County
NE 1523323
NE 3520320
NE 9822523
NE 57576
NE 169510
Total Wayne County81382
Total Four Counties5,461549

 

Four counties are served by rail, including the Burlington Northern and/or Union Pacific and/or numerous spur lines and regional rail lines. These rail cars also carry hazarous material and are placarded much like the trucks are.

Norfolk in Madison County is also served by a regional airport. Airplanes can also carry hazardous material and hazardous material is maintained at the site to fuel and service the aircraft.

Four counties are also serviced by natural gas pipelines. The KANEB pipeline also traverses several of the counties and carries various fuels and propane.

 

Hazardous materials are also stored or manufactured at plants or facilities that are located throughout the four county area. Communities are vulnerable to spills at these facilities that might extend beyond their boundries. These facilities are manned by trained employees and heavily regulated by several agencies, both Federal and State. But the risks are still there that a spill could extend beyond their facility.

As mentioned earlier, these facilities are required to report the quantities of hazardous materials, beyond a certain threshold amount, that they maintain at their facility.