Creation by Federal Legislation
Local Emergency Planning Committees (LEPC) were created in 1986 as the result of federal legislation designed to increase the public's awareness and knowledge of hazardous chemicals present in the community and the release of these chemicals into the environment.
Early Area LEPCs
The Pasadena and Bay Area LEPCs shared two neighborhoods (El Cary and El Jardin) and multiple industrial facilities within their separate jurisdictions, resulting in time-intensive efforts to participate in both LEPCs (and possibly others) in order to fully represent their communities and businesses.
Merger of Area LEPCs
In early 2003, the Pasadena and Bay Area LEPCs created a combined working group of community and industrial facility representatives to explore a merger of the two LEPCs. A recommendation was made that a merger would provide a better level of emergency planning services to the Harris County communities and industrial facilities served by the new LEPC.
The Pasadena and Bay Area LEPC memberships, in separate meetings held September and October 2003, voted overwhelmingly to merge and form the Southeast Regional LEPC. The merger was ratified by combined membership voting to adopt new By Laws on July 19, 2004.