Environmental Services Program
Environmental Emergency Response
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Emergency response is the department’s front line of defense to significant and imminent hazardous substance releases that impact public safety and the environment. This section is primarily responsible for fulfilling the department’s duties contained within Revised Missouri Statutes, Chapter 260, sections 260.500 through 550, commonly referred to as the “Spill Bill.” Responsibilities include responding to address any chemical, petroleum, or other material spilled on to the land, water, or atmosphere that may impact the public health and safety and/or the environment.
Thirteen duty officers monitor the statutorily mandated Spill Reporting Hotline 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year, on a rotating basis. During normal business hours, duty officers staff the Incident Command Center located at the Environmental Services Program. After normal business hours, the spill reporting hotline is answered from the duty officer’s residence.
Ten staff, in addition to the 13 Duty Officers, are stationed at six different locations throughout Missouri. State On-Scene Coordinators conduct operations out of these offices and are dispatched via the 24-hour spill reporting hotline by a duty officer in Jefferson City.
On average, the Environmental Emergency Response section, or EER, receives more than 1,500 incident calls and responds to nearly 450 hazardous substance emergencies each year. The EER section staff includes hazardous material technicians in Jefferson City, St. Louis, Poplar Bluff, Kansas City, Macon and Springfield who respond when an environmental emergency occurs.
Links to Regional Offices' Selected Hazardous Material Incidents Information:
- Kansas City Regional Office Selected Hazardous Material Incidents Information, FY2010
- Northeast Regional Office Selected Hazardous Material Incidents Information, FY2010
- St. Louis Regional Office Selected Hazardous Material Incidents Information, FY2010
- Southeast Regional Office Selected Hazardous Material Incidents Information, FY2010
- Southwest Regional Office Selected Hazardous Material Incidents Information, FY2010
Fiscal Year 2010 (FY2010) Accomplishments:
- 2,873 incidents, including methamphetamine incidents, were reported through the 24-hour spill line
- Responded to 315 incidents not including methamphetamine lab incidents
- Formation of the Disaster Coordination Group to better plan the department’s response to disasters
- Homeland Security equipment purchases to respond to incidences, provide support, and protect the public (including mercury meters, bio threat kits, raman spectroscopy scopes, and other Weapons of Mass Destruction detection equipment
- Supported law enforcement investigations, body recovery, through the use of the Ground Penetrating Radar, or GPR
- Received and responded to 997 requests for technical assistance
- Participated in 298 outreach events reaching over 20,000 citizens/responders
- Continued the no-cost Mercury Collection Removal and Recycling Program for private Missouri citizens, non-profit organizations, and limited educational facilities
All Incidents Reported Map, FY2010*
*Excludes meth lab incidents accepted at clandestine drug lab collection
Environmental Emergency Response Tracking System
Emergency Response uses a database, the Missouri Environmental Emergency Response Tracking System, commonly referred to as MEERTS, as a repository for information related to all hazardous substance emergencies/releases. Details of each spill/incident are entered into MEERTS by the officer on duty at the time of the spill. Information in MEERTS can be queried as far back as December 1993 and is available on the internet in a searchable format.
- Missouri Environmental Emergency Response
- Missouri Environmental Emergency Response Search
- Emergency Response recorded 1,690 incidents* in MEERTS during FY2010
*Excludes meth lab incidents accepted at clandestine drug lab collection
Public Outreach
The Environmental Emergency Response section works diligently to develop and advance working relationships with local, state and federal partners. Understanding the roles and responsibilities of these various agencies and sharing our mission before environmental emergencies occur in their jurisdictions is extremely important.
It is equally important to educate, inform and interact with the general public, school children and other parties to further their understanding of what their role is in protecting the environment and the mission of the EER section.
In FY2010, the EER section reached an estimated 20,000 individuals at 298 different events including the Environmental Emergency Response booth at the Missouri State Fair, local emergency planning committee meetings, regional homeland security oversight committee meetings, career fairs, Earth Day events, and other local, regional and statewide exercises and training events.