CECC Steering Committee
Steering Committee members David Wade from Harris County Office of Emergency Management, consultant Charles Schneider, Chairman Mark Gaddy from LyondellBasell, and CAC Facilitators Diane Sheridan and Mary Jane Naquin review a map of communities in east Harris County. Steering Committee members not pictured include Gail Miller from Harris County Precinct 2 Commissioner Sylvia Garcia's Office, Sam Pipkin from the City of Deer Park, Jeff Suggs from the City of La Porte, Lon Squyres from the City of Jacinto City, and Kevin Koerner from TOTAL Petrochemicals USA.
The East Harris County Manufacturers Association (EHCMA) has established a Community Emergency Communications Committee (CECC) to identify, understand, and help resolve the many issues regarding the communication of information about chemical release emergencies to community residents, industry neighbors, government agencies, schools, news media, and other stakeholders.
Created in late 2003, the CECC was initially chaired by Wayne Turner of Dow Chemical and composed of three sub-Committees, each assigned to overlapping areas of focus:
- Communication Systems Committee:
Identify, evaluate, and improve tools and warning systems
- Community Alert Committee:
Improve multi-jurisdictional coordination between cities, county, and industry
- Industry Notification Committee:
Establish criteria and standard procedures for industry notification
To obtain input from a broad cross-section of stakeholders, the CECC is composed city/county elected officials, emergency management coordinators, local emergency planning committee (LEPC) chairs, community advisory council/panel facilitators or members, school district officials, news media management, and industry representatives from the seven EHCMA Outreach Areas.
CECC Meeting on August 4, 2004
More than fifty Mayors, city/county emergency management, law enforcement, fire department, and industry representatives met to discuss the CECC project and how to work together to improve communications and coordination during chemical emergencies.
In August 2004, the CECC briefed other city/county elected officials and emergency management coordinators on the project, sought their feedback, and invited them to join and participate in the collaborative communications process.
CECC and Community Leaders
Harris County Judge Robert Eckels, former CECC Chair Wayne Turner, Harris County Precinct 2 Commissioner Sylvia Garcia, Precinct 2 Assistant Deputy Commissioner Gail Miller, CECC Communications Systems Chair Dave McKinney, and CECC Industry Notification Chair Lonnie Lindsey
The CECC's recommendations were approved by the EHCMA Board of Directors and then presented to the EHCMA membership in September 2005.
The CECC Steering Committee, currently chaired by Mark Gaddy of LyondellBasell, is now implementing those recommendations, starting with development of a CECC Handbook for collaborative communications of industrial events - including plant and transportation incidents. The CECC Handbook was distributed during four training sessions conducted in April 2006 in Baytown, Galena Park, Houston, and Pasadena.
EHCMA CECC Chair Mark Gaddy explains how the CECC Handbook will help industry improve communications with the community during a chemical emergency.
More than 300 city, county, and industry personnel attended four CECC Training sessions conducted in April 2006. This session was hosted by Lyondell-Citgo Refining in Houston.
Questions or comments? Please visit our "Contact Us" page
