Abstract |
From October 1999 through February 2000, researchers from The George Washington University completed 2,106 mail and fax surveys of Local Emergency Planning Committees (LEPCs) in the U.S. This research effort achieved a completion rate of 50.8% of the total number of 4,145 LEPCs in the U.S. known to EPA. Respondents were asked to complete an eight-page survey and submit the survey to the researchers. However, if the respondent considered the LEPC to be Inactive, a short, one-page survey, provided to all survey recipients, could be returned to summarize the main status and reasons for inactivity of the LEPC. These respondents did not need to complete and return the eight-page survey. The present study is a follow-up to a similar study conducted in 1994 by The George Washington University for the U.S. EPA Chemical Emergency Preparedness and Prevention Office. While the 1994 study was useful in providing a picture of the status of LEPCs, the sampling technique utilized for the survey was criticized as being overly-dependent on state residential population size. Therefore, the 1999 survey responded to this criticism by surveying the entire population of LEPCs rather than sampling the LEPC population by state demographics. |