Thank you to the Center for Y2K and Society for this item. http://www.y2kcenter.org/resources/glitches/

2000.01.06

EPA's ERNS database goes down due to Y2K problem

The main U.S. EPA database for reporting chemical spills, the Emergency Response and Notification Systems, was quietly unplugged at the end of 1999 because it was not Y2K-compliant. The ERNS Web page carried no information on this, nor apparently was any public announcement made.

EPA staffers told the Center for Y2K and Society that they are working on a new system, tentatively known as "ERNS 2000", that they hope will be ready in mid-January. Until a new system is up, EPA regional offices and emergency responders will have to rely on the reporting system maintained at the National Response Center. First response to chemical spills thus may not be significantly affected by the loss of ERNS, but the 10 EPA Regions will no longer have any ability to modify the data in the accident reports as new information becomes available (e.g., if a spill initially reported as 10 gallons of gasoline turns out to have been 10,000 gallons).

[Y2K Center staff]

-- Jennifer Bunker (jen@bunkergroup.com), January 07, 2000