Tier II Reporting: Thresholds, March 1 Deadline, and Penalties

Tier II reporting is the annual chemical inventory filing required under Section 312 of the Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act (EPCRA). If your facility stored a hazardous chemical above a federal threshold quantity at any point during the calendar year, you must file a Tier II report by March 1 of the following year with three recipients: your Local Emergency Planning Committee, your State Emergency Response Commission, and the fire department with jurisdiction over your site. Missing the filing can trigger civil penalties that now reach $71,545 per day of violation.

Who Has to File

Two questions decide whether you owe a report. First, do you have chemicals on-site that require a Safety Data Sheet under OSHA’s Hazard Communication Standard? Second, did any of those chemicals cross a reporting threshold at any point during the year?¹

OSHA defines a hazardous chemical broadly. It covers any chemical classified as a physical or health hazard, including simple asphyxiants and combustible dust.² That definition pulls in industrial materials many facility managers don’t think of as hazardous.

Thresholds split into two levels:

Extremely Hazardous Substances (EHS): 500 pounds or the chemical’s threshold planning quantity, whichever is lower. The EPA lists EHS chemicals and TPQs in 40 CFR Part 355.¹
All other hazardous chemicals: 10,000 pounds.³

A “facility” under EPCRA covers all buildings, equipment, structures, and other stationary items on a single site, or on contiguous sites owned or operated by the same person or entity.⁴ You cannot treat each building as a separate facility to stay under the limit. Everything on the property counts together.

Common Threshold Triggers People Miss

On-Site Fuel Storage

Farms, construction yards, fleet operations, and manufacturing plants that keep fuel on-site frequently cross the 10,000-pound threshold without noticing. Gasoline weighs roughly 6.1 pounds per gallon, so 10,000 pounds is about 1,644 gallons. Diesel is heavier, and the equivalent works out to about 1,388 gallons. A single above-ground tank at a job site can push you past those numbers.

Retail Gas Stations

Retail gasoline stations get a much higher threshold, but only if their tanks are stored entirely underground and meet all applicable Underground Storage Tank requirements for the full reporting year. Under those conditions, the threshold is 75,000 gallons for gasoline and 100,000 gallons for diesel.³ If tanks sit above ground, or if the station fell out of UST compliance at any point during the year, the standard 10,000-pound threshold applies instead.

Lead-Acid Batteries

Facilities with banks of lead-acid batteries often overlook that the sulfuric acid inside qualifies as an EHS. The TPQ for sulfuric acid is 1,000 pounds, but the EHS reporting threshold is 500 pounds because you use whichever is lower. Total sulfuric acid across all batteries on-site of 500 pounds or more triggers a filing obligation.⁵ The lead itself does not need to be aggregated; only the sulfuric acid does.

Exemptions and Their Limits

Five categories of substances are excluded from Tier II even if they’d otherwise meet a threshold:⁶

FDA-regulated food, food additives, color additives, drugs, and cosmetics.
Substances present as a solid in a manufactured product, provided people are not exposed to them under normal use.
Consumer products used for personal or household purposes, or held in the same form and concentration as a product sold to the general public. A case of retail-packaged cleaning spray in a janitor’s closet qualifies; a 55-gallon drum of concentrated industrial cleaner does not.⁷
Substances used in a research lab, hospital, or medical facility under the direct supervision of a qualified individual.
Substances used in routine agricultural operations, or fertilizer held for retail sale to the end user.

These exemptions are narrower than they look. A product that requires a professional license to purchase may fall outside the consumer product exemption if the license is not available to ordinary citizens.⁷ The research lab exemption applies only while the chemical is actually being used under supervision in that setting; bulk storage for later distribution to labs is not exempt. When the answer is unclear, filing is the safer call.

What the Report Contains

Tier II collects three categories of information: who you are, what chemicals you have, and where you keep them.⁸

Facility identification means the site name, physical address, and an emergency contact with a phone number that works at any hour. This is the information a fire crew needs at 2 a.m. if something goes wrong.

For each reportable chemical, you report the chemical or common name, CAS registry number, physical state, and the hazards it presents. You also report three quantity figures: the maximum amount on-site at any point during the year, the average daily amount, and the number of days the chemical was present.⁹

Storage details finish the report: container type (tank, cylinder, bag), pressure and temperature conditions, and the precise location on-site such as a specific building or tank number. Responders need to know whether they are walking toward a pressurized vessel or a covered pile.

March 1 Deadline and Where It Goes

Tier II reports are due on or before March 1 each year and cover the previous calendar year’s inventory.¹⁰ A report filed by March 1, 2026 covers everything on-site during 2025.¹¹

Every report goes to three recipients:⁹

Your Local Emergency Planning Committee (LEPC).
Your State Emergency Response Commission (SERC).
The fire department with jurisdiction over your facility.

Most states now use electronic filing. The EPA’s Tier2 Submit software is updated annually and is the most widely accepted tool.¹¹ Many states also run their own portals such as E-Plan, and some charge a small processing fee, typically $25 or less per facility.¹² Check your SERC’s website for the required submission method. Some states set lower thresholds or require additional chemicals beyond the federal list.

Penalties and How the EPA Softens Them

The federal statute authorizes penalties of up to $25,000 per violation for failing to file a Tier II report, and each day a violation continues counts as a separate violation.¹³ After inflation adjustments, that figure reaches $71,545 per day for penalties assessed on or after January 8, 2025.¹⁴

The EPA does not always pursue the maximum. Under the agency’s Audit Policy, a facility that discovers a violation through a systematic compliance audit, discloses it to the EPA within 21 days, and corrects the problem within 60 days can have up to 100 percent of the gravity-based penalty waived. Even without a formal audit program, voluntary disclosure that meets the policy’s other conditions can cut penalties by 75 percent.¹⁵ The main disqualifier is repeat violations: the same issue at the same facility within the past three years takes the policy off the table.

Recordkeeping

There is no federal recordkeeping requirement for Tier II filings.¹⁶ Treating that as permission to throw everything away after filing is a mistake. If the EPA or a state agency audits you, you will need to back up the numbers you reported. Keep copies of your submissions alongside supporting documents: current SDS for each chemical, purchase records, and internal inventory logs. A common inspection finding is a facility that filed on time but cannot produce the calculations behind its numbers. Some states have their own retention guidelines, so check with your SERC.

Tier II Is Not TRI

Tier II reporting and the Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) are not interchangeable. Tier II, under EPCRA Section 312, is about emergency planning: it tells responders what is stored at your facility and in what amounts. TRI, under EPCRA Section 313, tracks environmental releases such as air emissions, water discharges, and waste sent off-site. A facility can be subject to one, the other, or both. Filing a TRI report does not satisfy your Tier II obligation, and filing Tier II does not satisfy TRI.

1
eCFR. 40 CFR 370.10 – Who Must Comply With the Hazardous Chemical Reporting Requirements of This Part
2
Occupational Safety and Health Administration. 29 CFR 1910.1200 – Hazard Communication
3
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Tier II Chemical Inventory Form Instructions v.17
4
eCFR. 40 CFR Part 370 – Hazardous Chemical Reporting: Community Right-to-Know – Section 370.66
5
US EPA. How Does a Facility Report Batteries for Tier II
6
eCFR. 40 CFR 370.13 – What Substances Are Exempt From These Reporting Requirements
7
US EPA. Consumer Product Exemption and Products That Require Licensing
8
eCFR. 40 CFR 370.42 – What Is Tier II Inventory Information
9
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 42 USC 11022 – Emergency and Hazardous Chemical Inventory Forms
10
eCFR. 40 CFR Part 370 – Hazardous Chemical Reporting: Community Right-to-Know – Section 370.45
11
US EPA. Tier2 Submit Software
12
US EPA. State Tier II Reporting Requirements and Procedures
13
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 42 USC 11045 – Enforcement
14
eCFR. 40 CFR 19.4 – Statutory Civil Monetary Penalties, as Adjusted for Inflation
15
US EPA. EPA’s Audit Policy
16
US EPA. Federal Recordkeeping Requirements Under EPCRA Sections 311 and 312