Working largely behind the scenes, the Civil Air Patrol is very beneficial, but a "well-kept secret" to most Greene Countians and other citizens, according to Major Arlinda Bailey, commander of an Air Patrol squadron based at the Tri-Cities Airport.

Bailey explained the various public services the Air Patrol provides to state and local authorities at a meeting Wednesday of the Local Emergency Planning Committee (LEPC), held at Asbury United Methodist Church.

Those services include airborne reconnaissance, emergency services, disaster relief and homeland security missions, Bailey said.

The CAP transports blood and organs for transplants, accesses damage in the case of natural disasters like hurricanes and floods, shoots and relays real-time photos by e-mail while up in the air, and performs many other duties, according to Bailey.

Almost all of their duties in the air are conducted in Cessna aircraft, she said.

"We just love what we do," Bailey said. She said all of CAP's volunteers are professionally-trained.

The CAP has over 300 members in Group 1, which encompasses Northeast Tennessee.

Within that group, Greene County has a so-called composite squadron made up of over 30 volunteers, including cadets. They meet Thursday evenings at 6 p.m. at the Greeneville Municipal Airport.

The 23 LEPC members present at Wednesday's meeting elected Noah Roark, human resources director at Laughlin Memorial Hospital, as their new chairman. Paul VanDreal resigned in November after serving as chairman for five years.

According to promotional literature, LEPCs were originally mandated by the U.S. Congress to be set up in all 95 counties in Tennessee.

LEPCs are to include elected officials, health and law enforcement personnel, and representatives of industries that handle hazardous chemicals.

Congress enacted SARA, an acronym for the Superfund Amendments and Reauthorization Act of 1986, to inform and protect communities about disastrous chemical release accidents. That action followed the Union Carbide chemical accident in 1984 in Bhopal, India, that killed more than 3,000 people and injured thousands more.

In Greene County, during 2004, there were approximately 63 companies using chemicals on the Environmental Protection Agency's list of extremely hazardous substances, according to promotional literature from LEPC.

A survey in 1999 revealed that 5.4 percent of materials transported on county local highways and 1 percent by local railways are considered hazardous, the literature stated.

LECP meets quarterly. Its next meeting is July 30.