PEAS

Contact: Bruce van Otteren (517) 373-8427

Agency: Environmental Quality

The Pollution Emergency Alerting System (PEAS) is administered by the Superfund Section to notify local, state, federal, and Canadian agencies about environmental emergencies that occur in, or may affect, their respective jurisdictions.  Callers can notify PEAS personnel, or district staff, of environmental releases and emergencies through a toll-free, statewide, PEAS hotline, staffed 24 hours per day.  PEAS responds to between 600 and 2000 calls per year, ranging from minor releases, to major environmental catastrophes.  PEAS staffing includes a PEAS Administrator and seven Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) staff amongst whom after-hours, on-call duties are rotated on a weekly basis.  The PEAS Administrator is responsible for developing procedures as needed, providing guidance and training to the after-hours answering service and after-hours on-call DEQ staff, scheduling on-call staff, developing and managing the contract with the PEAS answering service, maintaining the PEAS database of incidents, forwarding database summary reports to all DEQ divisions, and ensuring overall smooth and effective operation of the system.  Managing the system requires understanding the responsibilities of the various divisions in the department and other pollution control agencies, knowing the reporting and response requirements of state, federal, and Canadian environmental laws, and facilitating coordination of incident response among all involved entities.  The PEAS Administrator works closely with the Department Emergency Management Coordinator and Field Operations Supervisors to ensure appropriate and desired call referrals are made to each of the DEQ divisions.

Access the PEAS Database