Feb 11, 2020 2 min read

The Greene County board of commissioners approved a contract with the Fayette County Hazardous Materials Response Team last week.

The county previously had a contract with the Carnegie-based Weavertown Environmental Group for responding to the release of hazardous material.

According to Jeff Marshall, chief clerk and county administrator, Greene County started working with Weavertown in the mid-1990s.

“Their business has kind of changed over the years. They probably had 30-some counties under contract,” Marshall said on Thursday.

The commissioners approved the contract with Fayette County by a 2-0 vote. Vice Chairwoman Betsy McClure was absent from the meeting.

Greg Leathers, director of the Greene County Emergency Management Agency, said the agency was chosen because of its proximity to Greene County

Located in Uniontown, the Fayette County HAZMAT Response Team, a volunteer department, will be able to respond to incidents quicker than Weavertown.

“There are staff in this office that are a part of that team,” Leathers said.

According to the contract, whoever is responsible for an incident where the HAZMAT team is called will also be responsible for reimbursement. In cases in which responsibility cannot be determined, Greene County will reimburse them.

“There are not that many calls a year,” Leathers said.

According to Leathers, most HAZMAT situations involve private companies that typically handle incidents themselves, and then report them to the county later.

“This would be something like a wreck, where something is leaking in the road,” Leathers said.