The LSPA continues to work for the passage of our bill to mandate that all homeowners’ policies automatically include coverage for spills and leaks from oil heating tanks. Read our letter in today’s Boston Globe.   

Notes from BWSC Advisory Committee

MassDEP’s Bureau of Waste Site Cleanup Advisory Committee met on October 27, 2022 for several hours. Typically, MassDEP posts the slides and recordings of Advisory Committee meetings here. At this time, these have not yet been posted.

A brief summary of meeting highlights is provided below.

The following LSPA practice tip was presented at the October 2022 Membership Meeting, which was held virtually through the Zoom webinar platform, on October 27, 2022.  

Practice Tip of the Month: 
Did you know MassDEP's position is that discarded carbon canisters, as a generated waste, are a sludge and subject to 310 CMR 30.302: Determination of Whether a Waste is Hazardous? Accordingly, per policy HW94‐007, a spent carbon canister that contains hazardous waste constituents from a listed hazardous waste source must be managed as a hazardous waste, regardless of whether the carbon canisters were used to treat groundwater or vapors from groundwater or soils.

AND…..we’re back!  The LSPA was excited to hold several in-person events over the past month.

Along with MassDEP and AMWS – The Association of Massachusetts Wetland Scientists, we held two sessions of “Wetlands, Wetland Regulations, and the MCP.”  This full day course involved time exploring five wetlands field stations and got rave reviews from participants.

The LSPA has developed a Climate Change MCP Toolkit to assist waste site cleanup practitioners as they consider the potential effects of climate change on site assessment and response actions. This is anticipated to be required by the pending amendments to the Massachusetts Contingency Plan (MCP).  

The climate change toolkit is available through links in this email as well as on the LSPA website. The tools are reflective of the framework defined in the (the SHMCAP, MA SHMCAP Portal). The SHMCAP accounts for projected changes in precipitation and temperature, sea level rise, and extreme weather events, and aims to reduce the risks associated with natural hazards and the effects of climate change.

The Legislature’s Formal Session ended on July 31, 2022, without passage of the LSPA’s bill, An Act relative to the remediation of home heating oil releases. The LSPA was thrilled that the bill passed the Senate in April 2022 with a unanimous roll-call vote, indicating that Senators wanted to be on-record as supporting our bill. It was then sent to the House Committee on Ways and Means but did not advance in time for closure of the formal session.    

This is the furthest our bill has advanced over three sessions and we have not given up on the bill’s passage this session. The informal legislative session ends on January 2, 2023. Once the legislature has made decisions on more complex bills (e.g., economic development bill; FY '22 final supplemental budget), there should be a window for action for us.  We don’t expect this to happen until the end of September or early October.

The following LSPA practice tip was presented at the September 2022 Membership Meeting, which was held virtually through the Zoom webinar platform, on September 14, 2022.  

Practice Tip of the Month: 
Did you know that you can access MassDEP Level 1 audit results through the MassDEP Site File Viewer?

The LSP Association (LSPA) is proud to support the 38th Annual International Conference on Soils, Sediments, Water, and Energy (aka "The UMass Soils Conference") as an event sponsor. The conference is back to being held in person this year! As part of this sponsorship, all LSPA members are eligible to receive a discounted registration fee. Click here to learn more about redeeming your discount.

Also, if you are looking for DEP credits, check out Workshop 03: Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances (PFAS): Hot Topics. This workshop has been approved for 3.0 DEP Regulatory Credits for MA LSPs, Course #1782. If you are planning to attend, please be sure to sign up for both the workshop and CEUs during registration While the LSPA is not the course provider, we wanted to make our members aware of this opportunity. Any questions regarding the course should be directed to the conference organizers.

Members of the LSPA’s Technical Practices Committee are creating a Work Group to review the documents listed below. 

• Background Levels of Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons and Metals in Soil Technical Update – May 23, 2002
• Historic Fill / Anthropogenic Background Public Comment DRAFT Technical Update – May 24, 2016

As part of this effort, the Work Group is reviewing the LSPA Comments on Historic Fill/Anthropogenic Background DRAFT Technical Update 2016, July 14, 2016, which were previously transmitted to MassDEP.

MassDEP has announced that the application for the FY2023-24 Technical Assistance Grant (TAG) is now available. This grant opportunity provides $200,000 in funding, with up to $20,000 per community or municipal applicant-group selected for an award, to enhance public involvement and promote better understanding of the cleanup of contaminated sites in their communities. 

The application deadline is Tuesday, October 18, 2022.

The following LSPA compliance tip was presented at the June 2022 Membership Meeting, which was held virtually through the Zoom webinar platform, on June 21, 2022.  

Compliance Tip of the Month: 
Pursuant to 310 CMR 40.1074(5), in addition to the requirement to incorporate a Notice of Activity and Use Limitation (AUL) into deeds or other instruments of property transfer, a copy of the deed or other instrument (with the incorporated AUL) must be submitted to MassDEP within 30 days of recording. This must be done using Section B, item 11, of the BWSC113 form (note that an LSP signature/stamp is not required for this submittal). Both the former and new property owners have this obligation; however, a submittal provided by either of those parties meets the requirements for both of them.

• Katherine Dilawari, PE, LSP, Principal, Contaminated Site Management, Haley & Aldrich, Inc. Ms. Dilawari will begin her 3-year term on July 1, 2022. 

• Timothy Nevins, LSP, CHMM, Senior Principal Scientist, Alliance Environmental Group/An F.W. Webb Company. Mr. Nevins will begin his first 3-year term on July 1, 2022. 

• Joseph Roman, LSP, Environmental Division Manager, GEI Consultants. Mr. Roman will begin his second 3-year term on July 1, 2022. He will continue to serve as LSPA Treasurer.

Thank you to all who voted.

The LSPA hosted a fun night of socializing and baseball at beautiful Polar Park in Worcester earlier this week.  Perfect weather.  Free drinks and food, raffle prizes, and a private box area made the night even better.  Keep an eye on Jaylin Davis #12 – he had a hot night with two home runs. Box score:  Mud Hens 0, Red Sox 4 (Final Score) on Gameday (milb.com)

• The LSPA Member Award is presented to an LSPA Member in recognition of leadership, commitment, and contributions to the LSPA organization and membership over the previous year.
• The LSPA Service Award is presented to an individual or organization in recognition of service to/support of the LSP Association and its mission; service may be in the form of in-kind services, financial or other support. This award is for service over the previous year.
• The Contribution to the Practice Award is presented to an individual or organization from the public, non-profit, or private sector for outstanding contributions to the practice and advancing the profession over the previous year. Attributes may include creativity in balancing economic development with environmental values, practical approaches to regulatory compliance, and innovative initiatives in technology and sustainability.
• The LSPA Environmental Justice Award is presented to an individual or organization from the public, non-profit, or private sector for recent or continuing outstanding contributions in increasing awareness of Environmental Justice (EJ) issues and/or supporting EJ communities. Learn more about Environmental Justice populations here.
• The Lifetime Achievement Award is presented to an individual in recognition of distinguished and continued contributions over 25 years or more to the advancement of science, standards, or professionalism in the field of site assessment and remediation under MGL c. 21E. The awardee must:
• Be an LSP or someone in the supporting professions, and
• Demonstrate commitment to the LSPA. This might include participation in the LSPA at a leadership level, e.g. founding member, committee chair, Board member or officer; or partnership with the LSPA through leadership level participation in a related organization.

The following LSPA compliance tip was presented at the May 2022 Membership Meeting, which was held virtually through the Zoom webinar platform, on May 18, 2022.  

Practice Tip of the Month: