On September 10, 2024, the LSPA sent our comments to MassDEP’s Bureau of Waste Site Cleanup (BWSC) as part of its public comment period on Risk Characterization Guidance, Chapters 6-10, Public Review Draft.

The LSPA adhered to our typical process for collecting and submitting comments on draft documents:

MassDEP’s Bureau of Waste Site Cleanup (BWSC) held an Advisory Committee meeting on August 15, 2024. Click here for the meeting agenda and click here for slides from that meeting.

Representatives of LSPA’s Regulations Committee attended the meeting and provided the following top takeaways (in no particular order):

• MassDEP continues to work on a draft policy (the so-called “Comm-24” policy) which would specify the parameters which must be met to allow contaminated soil from one MCP site to be reused at another MCP site. This draft policy is expected to be available for public review and stakeholder engagement before the end of 2024.
• MassDEP is drafting a PFAS Q&A document using questions posed by external stakeholders and internal MassDEP staff. Topics include: Standards; MCP Notification; Site Assessment; Risk Assessment; Treatment; Analysis; and Downgradient Property Status.
• MassDEP met separately with the LSPA and National Grid in July to discuss some areas of the revised MCP Q&A. As a result, MassDEP will be clarifying Coal Tar Waste Deposit definitions and requirements. EPC determinations are being revised as well. 
• The Commonwealth has two years to comply with EPA’s new PFAS MCL. BWSC is coordinating its efforts to promulgate MCP cleanup standards with the standards being developed by the Drinking Water Program. 
• MassDEP is considering changes to the current Imminent Hazard concentration of greater than or equal to 90 ng/L for PFAS 6. 
• MCP soil standards are not expected to change significantly. 
• MCP standards for reportable concentrations (i.e., RCGW-1) and Method 1 risk standards (i.e., GW-1) will reflect changes to the MassDEP Drinking Water Program’s drinking water standards.
• Because EPA drinking water standards include PFAS compounds not currently covered by MassDEP PFAS6 drinking water standards and MCP cleanup standards, MassDEP will include these additional PFAS compounds in its standards.
• Until new Massachusetts PFAS standards are finalized, the current PFAS standards remain in effect.
• If you have PFAS Program questions or comments, please contact: John Ziegler, PFAS Coordinator, MassDEP-BWSC, (617) 874-6733; [email protected].
• A Western MA Brownfields Roundtable will take place on Sept. 17, 2024, from 9:00 am to12:30 pm at the offices of the Pioneer Valley Planning Commission in Springfield, MA. For more information, contact David Foss, MassDEP’s Statewide Brownfields Coordinator, at [email protected].
• Data Management Update: eDEP forms have been updated based on the 2024 MCP Revisions. A new version of the Site File Viewer was released in July 2024. If you have questions about Searchable Sites, eDEP, or the File Viewer, contact [email protected].
• The next MassDEP BWSC Office Hours Meeting will be Thursday, Sept. 19 at 9:00 am. The next BWSC Advisory Committee Meeting will be Thursday, November 21 at 9:00 am. More details here.

MassDEP Technical Assistance Grant (TAG) Program 
FY25-26 Opportunity and Application
Anticipated Release Date:  June 4, 2024

The Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection (MassDEP), Bureau of Waste Site Cleanup is pleased to announce the upcoming release of the FY25-26 Technical Assistance Grants (TAGs) funding opportunity. TAGs aim to support community and municipal groups in fostering public participation in decisions related to assessment and cleanup activities at oil or hazardous material disposal sites. Recipients of TAGs may use funds to access expert advice and technical assistance, and to facilitate community education for qualifying projects. 

MassDEP’s deadlines for written comments have been extended to June 5, 2024 for both guidance documents currently posted on the MCP Amendments web page: “Risk Characterization Guidance, Chapters 1-5, Public Review Draft” and “Interim Guidance on Implementing Activity and Use Limitations.”

The two LSPA groups reviewing these guidance documents are still looking for comments. If you want to join the review group or have comments you wish to share on the Risk Characterization Guidance, please contact [email protected] by no later than May 9th. 

The LSPA received notice on October 16, 2023 from MassDEP’s Bureau of Waste Site Cleanup that the updated Compendium of Analytical Methods (CAM) protocols for Trace Metals, WSC-CAM-III A (6010D) and WSC-CAM-III D (6020B), have been posted to MassDEP's website. Also posted are summaries of the significant changes made to the respective existing protocols with these updates.

The effective date for these updated protocols is January 15, 2024. On and after January 15, 2024, any laboratory that is certifying compliance with MassDEP’s CAM protocols for these methods must be complying with these updated protocols. 

MassDEP Technical Assistance Grant (TAG) Program 
FY24-25 Opportunity and Application
Anticipated Release Date:  June 29, 2023

The Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection (MassDEP) Bureau of Waste Site Cleanup announces the upcoming release of the FY24-25 Technical Assistance Grant (TAG) funding opportunity. TAGs are available to community and municipal groups to enhance public participation in assessment and cleanup activities at oil or hazardous material disposal sites. TAGs may be used to obtain expert advice and technical assistance and to promote community education for qualifying projects. 

The Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection (MassDEP) Bureau of Waste Site Cleanup is holding an online informational meeting about upcoming Technical Assistance Grants (TAGs) funding. TAGs are available to community and municipal groups to enhance public participation in assessment and cleanup activities at oil or hazardous material disposal sites. TAGs may be used to obtain expert advice and technical assistance and promote community education for qualifying projects.  The informational meeting will include a presentation on the purpose of the TAG program, grant eligibility requirements, and the grant application process and timelines.

The online informational meeting will take place on Tuesday, June 6, 2023 at 7:00 PM via Zoom. You may access the meeting via MassDEP’s TAG webpage.

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

Compliance Tip of the Month: 
Consistent with 310 CMR 40.1003(7), if all other MCP closure requirements are met, a site with NAPL may be closed with a Permanent Solution With Conditions (PSWC) following complete evaluation of the nature and extent of the NAPL, including demonstration of the following consistent with Policy #WSC-16-450:

The following LSPA practice tip was presented at the November 2022 Membership Meeting, which was held virtually through the Zoom webinar platform, on November 15, 2022.  

Practice Tip of the Month: 
The LSPA has developed a Climate Change MCP Toolkit to assist 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 MCP.  The toolkit includes a flowchart, checklist, two case studies, glossary, and list of resources.

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 Department of Environmental Protection (MassDEP) is holding a listening session on disposal capacity issues for contaminated soil coming from Massachusetts disposal sites (“contaminated” soil meaning concentrations > RCS-2).  This session will help MassDEP better understand the scope and impact of contaminated soil disposal issues and identify possible avenues for addressing them. 

The listening session is planned for December 16 from 10:00 am to 12:00 pm, to be held via Zoom, and hosted by MassDEP’s Liz Callahan (Acting Assistant Commissioner, Bureau of Waste Site Cleanup), Greg Cooper (Division Director, Business Compliance & Recycling), and Paul Locke (Acting Deputy Commissioner, Policy & Planning).  

• Regional Personnel Updates  
• MCP Amendments
• Internal MassDEP approvals expected to be completed this summer with final regulations published in the fall
• Training for LSP credit, and Q & As specific to the amendments to follow
• MassDEP also expects to finalize guidance documents related to final amendments including risk characterization
• Subscribe to MassDEP Notifications 
• Compendium of Analytical Methods (CAM) Update
• Revised CAM protocols for 8260 (Volatile Organic Compounds) and 8270 (Semivolatiles)
• Revised protocols posted on July 22, 2021 and take effect November 5, 2021 
• Technical Assistance Grants and MOSPRA Grant Program Premier  
• Assessing Climate Vulnerability at 21E Sites 
• PFAS in Massachusetts
• An excellent comprehensive review of the status of PFAS related efforts over the years and currently underway, including links to databases on MassDEP website
• Office Hours and WSCAC Meetings
• MassDEP plans to continue holding virtual meetings - Thursday morning “office hours” and Thursday morning WSCAC meetings both on the 4^th Thursday of the month.  
• Next Advisory Committee meeting is Thursday, September 23, 2021 at 9:00 am

Members of the LSPA Regulations Committee sat in on this meeting (see the recording here) and present the following takeaways, in no particular order.

• 2019 MCP Revisions. The MCP amendments continue to be edited and revised in response to comments. Once finalized, which is expected to be “later this spring,” they will go into effect (with a grace period), and MassDEP will provide training and updated risk guidance.

• PFAS Testing of Public Water Supplies. MassDEP is providing funding to public water supplies for their first round of required PFAS testing. Testing is underway, and data are updated weekly on the MassDEP PFAS page at https://eeaonline.eea.state.ma.us/portal#!/search/drinking-water.

• Private Well Sampling and IH Level of 90 ppt.  MassDEP is communicating with local Boards of Health and private well owners in ~80 towns that rely primarily on private water sources. MassDEP is aiming to collect data from both private wells near potential (known) PFAS sources and wells randomly located, as an approach to gaining a better understanding of background levels of PFAS in groundwater. If PFAS is detected in a residential well, a homeowner will not be required to notify MassDEP; in the absence of an identified on-site source, MassDEP will assume that homeowners have Downgradient Property Status, and MassDEP will hold in abeyance the issuance a Notice of Responsibility (NOR). MassDEP will work with homeowners to reduce risk; a drinking water Imminent Hazard PFAS6 concentration of 90 ppt has been established by MassDEP.
  

• Multi-Lab Audit Findings.  Ken Marra and Liz Callahan summarized the results of the audit, which was initiated in 2016 and evaluated data packages for VPH/EPH/APH/TO-15. The Multi-Lab Data Audit Report (March 2021) has been posted here. Generally, laboratories did well with the TO-15 and APH analyses. There were potential low bias issues with VPH & EPH analyses in approximately one-half of the data packages, resulting in MassDEP issuing revisions to the VPH methods (February 2018) and EPH methods (December 2019) to clarify the issues. MassDEP does not anticipate doing a systematic review of past submittals relative to the low bias issues identified, but is considering measures for more routine checking of laboratory quality.
  
  If you are interested in participating in subgroup meetings regarding laboratory data quality, please send an email to [email protected].

• MassDEP Focus on Environmental Justice.  Deneen Simpson, MassDEP’s Director of Environmental Justice, summarized MassDEP’s work since June 2020 to evaluate the agency’s internal and external culture, practices, and policies related to environmental justice and equity. This work involves regional offices as well as a focus by the Commissioner. MassDEP is working to diversify advisory and stakeholder groups, and has developed and is implementing Environmental Justice Public Involvement Plan Guidance (currently an internal document only) on approaches to  engage diverse communities. MassDEP’s EJ Team meets quarterly. Rishi Reddi is the Director of Environmental Justice at the Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs (EEOA), and the EJ Team also includes Liz Callahan and Peggy Shaw of BWSC. 

• Refreshing the Waste Site Cleanup Advisory Committee (WSCAC).  MassDEP is evaluating the composition of its stakeholder groups. The WSCAC is not created by statute and therefore MassDEP has flexibility regarding its composition, meeting format, etc. MassDEP would like to expand representation to ensure the full range of program stakeholders and would like to seek additional representation from EJ communities, PIP group members, student representatives, environmental advocacy groups, and/or subject matter experts. The Department is considering establishing term limits, establishing a set meeting schedule (likely quarterly), and varying meeting times and locations. The WSCAC members discussed their thoughts on the various proposals. If you have ideas of how MassDEP might conduct outreach to expand the representation of the advisory committee, please email [email protected].

• Office Hours and WSCAC Meetings.  MassDEP expects to continue holding virtual meetings, but anticipates switching from the Zoom platform to another platform for its Thursday morning “office hours” and WSCAC meetings.  The frequency of weekly office hours will probably be reduced, and WSCAC meetings will likely be held quarterly.

• Brownfields Tax Credits. The Massachusetts Department of Revenue is considering comments on its proposed new brownfields tax credit regulations.  An interagency workgroup has recently conducted listening sessions about the brownfields tax credit program.  They expect to have workgroup findings within a couple of months.

• Searching for COCs on Waste Site/Spills Look Up.  Paul Locke confirmed that it is not possible for the public or MassDEP to search the site lookup database by COCs.

• BWSC Grant Programs update.  Liz Callahan provided an update on various grant programs, including:
  • Natural Resource Damages – grant opportunity related to Former National Fireworks Site in Hanover
  • Technical Assistance
  • Marine Oil Spill Prevention & Response