Tier II Chemical Reporting in Minnesota: Who Files & How
Short answer: if your Minnesota facility stores a hazardous chemical at or above its EPCRA reporting threshold — generally 10,000 pounds, or as low as 500 pounds for an Extremely Hazardous Substance — you must file an annual Tier II chemical-inventory report by March 1, covering the prior calendar year. It goes to your State Emergency Response Commission (SERC), your Local Emergency Planning Committee (LEPC), and your local fire department. In Minnesota the program is run by the Department of Public Safety's Homeland Security and Emergency Management division (HSEM) for the Emergency Response Commission, and electronic reports go through Tier II Manager. The hardest part is compiling an accurate inventory with quantities — which is exactly what SDSentry ($24 per location per month) keeps current for you year-round. Here is how Tier II works in Minnesota.
Free, no signup: the SDS binder builder at sdsentry.0xpi.com/sds-binder.html turns a pasted list of the products you keep on site into one printable index of their current safety data sheets.
What Tier II is (and isn't)
Tier II is the annual chemical-inventory report required under Section 312 of the Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act (EPCRA). Its purpose is to tell fire departments and emergency planners what hazardous chemicals are stored at your facility, in what quantities, and where, so responders know what they are walking into. It is a separate obligation from OSHA Hazard Communication — the same chemicals on your shelves, but a different law and a different audience. Meeting your HazCom duties does not satisfy Tier II, and vice versa.
Who has to file in Minnesota
The federal thresholds apply: you must file Tier II if any hazardous chemical for which you are required to keep a safety data sheet is present at or above its reporting threshold at any point during the year:
- 10,000 lbs for most hazardous chemicals (those that require an SDS).
- 500 lbs — or the chemical's Threshold Planning Quantity, whichever is lower — for Extremely Hazardous Substances (EHSs) on EPA's list.
Minnesota widens who is covered. Minn. Stat. 299K.08, subd. 2: “In addition to facilities specified in the federal act, facilities that are operated by employers subject to the occupational health and safety provisions of sections 182.65 to 182.675 shall comply with the hazardous chemical inventory reporting of the federal act.” So an employer covered by Minnesota's occupational safety law reports at those thresholds even where federal EPCRA alone would not reach it. Quantities are the maximum present at any one time, aggregated across the facility.
Where Minnesota facilities submit
EPCRA sends every Tier II report to three places: your State Emergency Response Commission (SERC), your Local Emergency Planning Committee (LEPC), and your local fire department.
Minnesota's SERC is the Emergency Response Commission established under Minn. Stat. 299K.03, and the Minnesota EPCRA Program sits in the Department of Public Safety's Homeland Security and Emergency Management (HSEM) division. Minnesota's local emergency planning is also organized differently: under Minn. Stat. 299K.04 the commission appoints a regional review committee for each emergency planning district, and it “shall serve as the local emergency planning committee under the federal act, except where a local emergency planning committee has been established by one or more political subdivisions.”
How to file: EPA's state-requirements page says “Minnesota accepts Tier II data electronically using the Tier II Manager software only” and accepts hard-copy submissions only on the Minnesota state-specific form. We could not find an official Minnesota statement on whether filing forwards your report to the regional committee and fire department, so confirm that with HSEM rather than assuming it. Contact details are on the Minnesota EPCRA Program page.
State systems and instructions can change year to year, so confirm current details with the Minnesota EPCRA Program at HSEM before you file.
The deadline
Minnesota law requires facilities subject to the federal act to comply with the federal act as well as the state chapter (Minn. Stat. 299K.08), so the federal March 1 deadline for the previous calendar year applies. Build in time before the deadline to gather quantities and have your preparer review them.
Are there Minnesota state fees?
Minnesota law provides for one. Minn. Stat. 299K.09 directs the commission to adopt rules setting “a fee to be paid annually by a facility when the owner or operator submits its emergency and hazardous chemical inventory form,” plus a late fee for facilities that do not pay on time. The amounts are set by rule rather than in the statute, and we could not verify the current figures, so confirm them with HSEM before you file — do not assume there is no fee.
What to have ready before you file
The report itself is mostly a structured list. What slows people down is assembling accurate underlying data. Before you start, have on hand:
- A complete chemical inventory for the location, with the product name and chemical identity for each item.
- The maximum quantity on site during the year and the average daily quantity, with units.
- Storage details — container type, pressure, temperature, and the specific location or building.
- Hazard information from each product's safety data sheet.
- Facility identifiers, emergency contacts, and (where required) latitude and longitude.
If you keep a current SDS library and a per-location inventory with quantities throughout the year, the February scramble largely disappears. See our guide on building a chemical inventory from scratch for a starting point.
How SDSentry helps
SDSentry tracks quantity and unit per item in your per-location inventory, flags items over a threshold you set, and exports an EPCRA Tier II CSV so your preparer is not rebuilding the inventory by hand each February. It keeps a current SDS on file for every product, which is where most of the hazard and storage details on the report come from. It will not submit the report for you — you still file through Tier II Manager — but it turns the worst part, compiling and maintaining the data, into a download. Pair it with our HazCom compliance checklist so your OSHA and EPCRA obligations stay covered at the same time.
Track inventory for Tier II — free trial
Frequently asked questions
Who do I send my Tier II report to in Minnesota?
Minnesota's Emergency Response Commission administers EPCRA through the Minnesota EPCRA Program in the Department of Public Safety's HSEM division. According to EPA, Minnesota accepts electronic Tier II data only through Tier II Manager and hard copies only on its state-specific form. Regional review committees serve as the LEPC in most districts; confirm with HSEM how copies reach them and your fire department.
When is the Tier II deadline in Minnesota?
Minnesota requires facilities to comply with the federal act, so the federal March 1 deadline for the previous calendar year applies. Confirm the current year's instructions with the Minnesota EPCRA Program.
What are the Tier II reporting thresholds?
You report if a hazardous chemical that requires a safety data sheet is on site at or above 10,000 pounds at any time during the year, or at or above 500 pounds — or the Threshold Planning Quantity, whichever is lower — for an Extremely Hazardous Substance. Quantities are the maximum amount present at any one time.
Is there a Minnesota state fee for Tier II?
Minn. Stat. 299K.09 directs the commission to set, by rule, an annual fee paid when the inventory form is submitted and a late fee. The current amounts are in rule rather than statute; confirm them with the Minnesota EPCRA Program.