ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH AND SAFETY,REGULATING WORKPLACES AND WORKERS' HOURS

 Environmental Health and Safety,  Regulating Workplaces and Workers' Hours

Mining has certain industrial processes which must be closely regulated to prevent a major accident, such as the Shell oil well explosion in deep water and gasses. A regulation of this kind would provide a strict set of rules which would prevent disasters.

 The GEO chapter 115, which deals with environmental regulation, would provide law enforcement in case of a mine accident, fires, release of pollutants, or hazardous materials.

 The law enforcement could be on land or at sea to avoid "incidents on the open water".The OSPRE form, of which the members have published the complete version on the GEO's website ( www.geo.org ), will be distributed to all communities near mine sites in the event of an emergency.

 It contains legal and regulatory information, including legal limitations on the use of explosives in mining. If the law is broken during the closure process, the mine operator must reimburse the community up to a limit of 20,000 dollars for damage or go with the wind, as it is called Alaskan English, before OSPRE is eliminated.

 This compensation is for both surface mining and underground mining operations.OSPRE is a huge time and effort to prepare, during which many of the details of the regulations for each area of the state have been developed.

 For example, one of the changes in the GEO Chapter 115 is to provide for the creation of a different program for the area north of the Copper River area, where mining was restarted a few years ago but was stopped during the crisis of the Canadian mine disaster in 2010.

 As soon as an emergency occurred in the U.S., the federal agencies are required to send a report to the governor and local authorities in the state which will tell them about the emergency, the extent of damage, and the failure of some basic services. The law contains a fine for the governors who do not comply with the requirement for such a report within ten days of the emergency. 

Following an emergency or disaster, the governor or the local leaders are expected to take the lead in the recovery work. They have the obligation to determine the extent of the damage, assess how much funds will be required, and organize assistance with labor, products, and services. There is also a document to tell residents where to get assistance from the government agencies.

 The disaster relief funds are to be distributed according to rules agreed by the state government. The state of Alaska can provide up to 5 million dollars per community or borough (called a "district") as reimbursement for the impact of the disaster. Each area will be evaluated on the basis of criteria for types of damage to buildings, animals, and people, costs of remediation, and efforts of the authorities to improve people's living conditions.

 Each city and borough will be able to apply for at least 4 million dollars. The federal government is to provide between 1.5 and 2 million dollars. The rest will come from the help of the national agencies (AAFAF, Department of Health and Human Services, USAID, and the Ministry of Health). Another document of the GEO covers the rules for dealing with the recovery after an emergency.

 The Department of Transportation is responsible for environmental impact information, which must be sent to the governor and governor's office every month for a period of five years. Some of the information includes the impact of the crash of a plane on the community or the state, some of the environmental problems which have occurred in the area, the different types of disasters which have occurred in the area during the previous year, and the level of environmental hazards and some related measures. 

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is responsible for the coordination of air traffic in the state during a crisis or emergency. It needs to provide information to the Governor's office in the case of an accident and also, in case of any danger to air traffic, which may affect the life of the population or the economy of the state. 

The Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation is to participate in a local community project and evaluate the potential effects of the project on the environment and if it will cause a significant impact. It needs to work with the communities to formulate the plans for the cleanup and restoration work. When a project causes a significant impact on the environment or on people, the project is obliged to be declared an environmental problem.

 The main objective of the project is to clean up and restore the environment to a level that is beneficial to the population. A report must be submitted to the governor in case of such a project. The governor is obliged to approve the implementation of the project and appoint community representatives. In case of major environmental emergencies, the governor is required to declare an emergency and provide local authorities with the information needed to assess the situation, and send the disaster management committee to the site of the emergency.

 A disaster management committee is formed by local authorities, government, emergency response agencies, and other groups. Local communities are represented by one person. There is a general law in the United States to deal with the recovery from a disaster. This law is contained in Title 49, Code of Federal Regulations, and it has been updated several times over the years. The relevant regulations cover the areas of taxes and prices and the authority of the President. Each state has its own set of laws for the recovery and reconstruction of a disaster.

When the economic recovery plan is being developed, many questions are asked. Some states have established standard procedures in which all companies provide information about their economic situations and their development plans. Such information includes their current financial status and their short- and long-term plans. 

These requirements must be provided to the Governor's Office and the Senate or House of Representatives. They are also provided to the Federal Emergency Management Agency. This information has to be updated and modified every three months. Additionally, the Governor is to prepare the recovery program for the state each year.

 It must contain measures to achieve economic recovery and development, and it must be submitted to the legislature and the president. In some cases, the Governor is to appoint a recovery committee, which is responsible for designing the recovery program, defining the required actions, and making budgetary decisions for the recovery program.