The MassDEP Bureau of Waste Site Cleanup (BWSC) has released its revised Policy for “Off-Gas Treatment of Point-Source Remedial Air Emissions” (formerly Policy #WSC-94-150), with a public comment period ending on June 30, 2025.

This Policy concerns air emissions that occur as a result of air stripping of contaminated groundwater, vacuum extraction of soil gases, or any other remedial activity conducted pursuant to MGL Chapter 21E that creates a point-source discharge of contaminants to air. The intent of this Policy is to articulate when off-gas treatment of point-source remedial air emissions may not be necessary to protect human health, safety, public welfare, and the environment.

On March 19, 2025, Annual Certification letters were sent by MassDEP’s Bureau of Waste Site Cleanup to property owners where an Active Exposure Pathway Mitigation Measure (AEPMM) is required to maintain a Permanent Solution with Conditions under the Massachusetts Contingency Plan (MCP). The MCP requires that the current property owner submit an annual certification concerning the operation and maintenance of the AEPMM upon receipt of a form sent by MassDEP (310 CMR 40.1025(8)).

In addition to the annual certification, MassDEP is requesting that the property owner conduct a shutdown and restart test (310 CMR 40.1025(9)) to demonstrate the remote telemetry for the system is operating correctly. In total, seventy-four (74) letters were sent to property owners. Letters were also emailed when MassDEP had an email on file for the property owner. The deadline for returning the Annual Certification form is May 5, 2025. Annual Certification letters sent by MassDEP are publicly available on the Energy & Environmental Affairs Data Portal.  As MassDEP receives completed forms from property owners those letters will be added to the Data Portal as well. 

The following LSPA practice tip was introduced at the March 2025 Membership Meeting, which was held via Zoom on March 20, 2025.

Practice Tip of the Month
Spring is a good time to document the condition of monitoring wells, especially after a busy snowplow season. Well covers that are damaged over the winter may no longer meet the requirements of 310 CMR 40.0028, which specifies:

The MCP-mandated March 1, 2025 deadline is fast approaching.

Pursuant to 310 CMR 40.0560(7)(i)(4.)(b), a Periodic Review of the Temporary Solution and Tier Classification Extension shall be submitted within one year of March 1, 2024 for disposal sites where Active O&M is not occurring and the following apply: (i) a Temporary Solution Statement for a disposal site was submitted to the Department prior to March 1, 2024; (ii) the Tier Classification had expired prior to March 1, 2024, and (iii) Status Reports and, as applicable, the Periodic Review of the Temporary Solution had not been submitted at the frequency specified pursuant to 310 CMR 40.0898 and 310 CMR 40.1050(4) prior to March 1, 2024.

The following LSPA practice tip was introduced at the February 2025 Membership Meeting, which was held via Zoom on February 12, 2025.

Practice Tip of the Month
When an MCP submittal form is required, you should download the form directly from the MassDEP website. That way you will have the most current version of the form rather than a possibly outdated version saved to your desktop or laptop.

The following LSPA compliance tip was introduced at the December 2024 Membership Meeting, which was held via Zoom on December 18, 2024.

Compliance Tip of the Month
While the MCP requires an assessment of “reasonably foreseeable future changes in site conditions” related to climate change, it does not indicate a specific assessment timeframe. 

The following LSPA compliance tip was introduced at the November 2024 Membership Meeting, which was held via Zoom on November 19, 2024.

Compliance Tip of the Month

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.

The following LSPA compliance tip was introduced at the March 2024 Membership Meeting, which was held remotely on March 14, 2024 via Zoom.  

LSPA Compliance Tip of the Month
Per 310 CMR 40.1406 of the Massachusetts Contingency Plan (MCP), an “Informational Notice to Property Owners” BWSC Form 122 must be completed to advise an owner that their property falls within the boundaries of a disposal site. The MCP specifies when such written notices must be provided and what information they must contain. Copies of all written notices required must be submitted to MassDEP with the corresponding Phase II Report or Permanent or Temporary Solution Statement. 

A MassDEP BWSC Advisory Committee meeting was held on February 15, 2024. This webpage has slides and video from the meeting. Some highlights are below.

In this video, Brian Roden, BWSC Audits and Enforcement Coordinator, provides a summary of the 2024 MCP Amendments for AEPMMs addressing Vapor Intrusion.

On Friday, March 1, 2024, MassDEP’s Bureau of Waste Site Cleanup (BWSC) shared several important updates to the BWSC program and the MCP.

2024 Amendments to the Massachusetts Contingency Plan, effective March 1 2024 
Amendments to the Massachusetts Contingency Plan (MCP), 310 CMR 40.0000, the Commonwealth’s rules for the notification, assessment and cleanup of oil and hazardous material releases, threats of release, and disposal sites under MGL c. 21E take effect today. The MCP will be published by the Secretary of State in a supplemental register next week, and hard copies will be available at the State House Bookstore (for information on ordering copies click here).

The following LSPA practice tip was introduced at the February 2024 Membership Meeting, which was held remotely on February 13, 2024 via Zoom.  

Practice Tip of the Month
Many municipalities have areas designated for the protection of groundwater quality to ensure its availability for use as a source of potable water supply (e.g., Aquifer Protection Districts).

In anticipation of March 1, 2024, when the MCP Amendments go into effect, the LSPA’s Regulations Committee has been working on summarizing key changes to the MCP regulations. 

Provided below is a summary of the new regulations on a variety of topics not covered by previous LSPA email blasts. This information was developed and is provided on behalf of the LSPA only; it does not represent MassDEP guidance or other input. 

In 2020, the LSPA formed a Climate Change Subcommittee (of the Technical Practices Committee) to consider how waste site cleanup practitioners might address anticipated MCP amendments on that topic. In 2022, the subcommittee produced and shared a Climate Change Toolkit. Now, the MCP Amendments are final and it’s time to start using the toolkit! 

The new MCP includes climate change-related language in specific sections on these topics: 

The following LSPA practice tip was introduced at the January 2024 Membership Meeting, which was held remotely on January 17, 2024 via Zoom.  

Practice Tip of the Month

In anticipation of March 1, 2024, when the MCP Amendments go into effect, the LSPA’s Regulations Committee has been working on summarizing key changes to the MCP regulations. 

The links below provide summaries of the three Sampling and Exposure Point Concentration topics that have materially changed from the 2019 regulations:

The LSPA received the following email from MassDEP's Bureau of Waste Site Cleanup on Friday. 

Dear Waste Site Cleanup Program stakeholder,

The following LSPA compliance tip was introduced at the December 2023 Membership Meeting, which was held remotely on December 12, 2023 via Zoom.  

Compliance Tip of the Month

On November 20, 2023, the LSPA sent a white paper to MassDEP entitled “Recommendations for Risk Management Under the MCP for Trichloroethene Exposures Based on Updated Toxicological Information.” The paper was prepared under the auspices of the LSPA’s Technical Practices Committee by Jay Peters of Haley & Aldrich, Inc. and Marie Rudiman of EnviroRisk Solutions, LLC. 

Based on evaluation of the updated scientific evidence referenced in this paper, the LSPA concurs with the findings of EPA studies and others that the association of TCE exposure with congenital heart defects (CHDs) is not scientifically supported. The LSPA proposes that MassDEP seriously reconsider and reevaluate the weight of evidence for TCE-induced CHDs and revise its risk management framework for TCE to be based on the chronic immunological endpoint, rather than the developmental effects endpoint. The paper notes that this would have the following implications for the regulation of TCE in Massachusetts:

In anticipation of March 1, 2024, when the MCP Amendments go into effect, the LSPA’s Regulations Committee has been working on summarizing key changes to the new regulations. 

Provided below is a brief summary of the new regulations on the topics of