Highligts and Updates

Members present:  Susan Chapnick, Ileen Gladstone, Steve Dodge, Lisa Campe for Dave MacDonald, Chris Davis, Jeff Hardin, Wendy Heiger-Bernays and Janine Commerford.  Fifty-three people signed the sign-in sheet.

Opening Remarks - Janine Commerford welcomed the group.  Updates included:

• The next SAC meeting is scheduled for September 25
• Chris Davis is stepping down as a member of the committee; PRP attorneys will be represented by Michelle O'Brien.  [Chris requested that stakeholders support the homeowners oil spill legislation by writing to the House Ways and Means Committee urging its passage and submitting case histories about difficult residential oil spill cases]
• NJ DEP staff will be in Boston July 8 - 10 meeting with MassDEP staff, the LSP Board staff, and LSPs following Janine's recent testimony before the New Jersey Senate Environment Committee on legislation to privatize the state's waste site cleanup program
• Enforcement forbearance ends on July 1 for sites subject to the Tier 1D compliance initiative.  Of the nearly 400 sites in the project, current  counts indicate that about 10 percent have come into compliance
• An internal MassDEP committee should issue an update for the AUL Guidance before the September 25 meeting.  Convening an external workgroup will follow
• Recent training offered includes data usability, MCP revisions, regional technical nights (a Lakeville event happens this evening - Worcester plans one in the fall; stakeholders should nominate topics through the committee LSP members).  Data usability will be offered again at the UMass Soils Conference; an auditing series will be held in the spring

Download of audio of SAC Opening Remarks from Archive.org
http://www.archive.org/details/Massdep-AdvisoryCommittee-June262008-Introduction 
(mp3 audio file and other formats)

LNAPL Regulatory/Policy Issues - Steve Boynton, on behalf of the LSPA Technical Practices Subcommittee, presented a discussion of the LSPA's efforts to develop recommendations for LNAPL assessment based on current science, through a two-part report.  Part 1 (LNAPL White Paper) was issued in 2005.  Part 2, the subject of his presentation, is expected to be released on the LSPA website next week.

Principal features of the report's recommendations are:

• establishing an LNAPL characterization framework (referred to as "The LNAPL Continuum")
• defining the extent of LNAPL based on soil concentrations exceeding the soil saturation limit 
• defining the potential for mobility/migration based on residual saturation

The report recommends that LSPs perform LNAPL mobility evaluations to evaluate future risk.  Four mobility evaluation procedures were presented for consideration:

• weight of evidence
• direct comparison to residual saturation
• site-specific mobility evaluation
• Baildown test procedure

Steve addressed cost considerations: the current approach is open-ended, so costs are hard to estimate up front; the proposed approach should not be more expensive if the project is well planned.

MassDEP is interested in working with the LSPA to further evaluate these proposals with respect to possible future guidance and/or regulatory changes.

Download of audio Steve Boynton's SAC presentation on LNAPL Regulatory /Policy Issues from Archive.org
 http://www.archive.org/details/MassDEP-AdvisoryCommittee-BWSC-June262008-LNAPL
(mp3 audio file and other formats)

Powerpoint Presentaion: LNAPL and the MCP

MS Powerpoint 5.3 MB | PDF 2 MB

Indoor Air guidance Update - Liz Callahan provided an update on MassDEP guidance relative to indoor air.  Shortly after the March SAC meeting, MassDEP posted its "Standard Operating Procedure on Indoor Air Contamination" (SOP) with a cover letter from Janine indicating that stakeholders may find the technical portions of the document useful as they conduct work on indoor air sites, but that the document is not guidance or policy, and that MassDEP staff have been reminded that the document is an SOP for them, but not for LSPs or PRPs; the procedures described therein are not enforceable.  In addition, Liz stated that MassDEP is making available for comment two review drafts: "Typical Indoor Air Concentrations" and "Indoor Air Threshold Values for the Evaluation of a Vapor Intrusion Pathway" on the BWSC website later in the day.

"Typical Indoor Air Concentrations" has been revised to address many comments offered at the March meeting on an earlier January 2008 draft document:

• Includes 50^th percentile values in addition to 75^th and 90^th
• Incorporates an eighth study (Kinney)
• Allows values to be used as a line of "evidence" in evaluating potential vapor intrusion
• Includes a "threshold" document that offers guidance on how to use these values to drop the vapor intrusion pathway from further consideration

Liz would appreciate receiving comments by August 15 so they can be considered and addressed in a final draft before the September 25 meeting.

Liz confirmed that the new PCE URF value was incorporated into the "Indoor Air Threshold Values for the Evaluation of a Vapor Intrusion Pathway".

Janine closed this discussion by talking about the issue of PCE sites that were correctly RAO'd under the old GW-2 standards but which may pose a health risk due to vapor intrusion.  MassDEP is conducting audits on these sites to determine if an imminent hazard is present.  She stated that it is not the department's policy to invalidate RAOs for sites that were properly RAO'd based on standards in effect at the time the RAO was submitted.  However, if an imminent hazard is determined to be present, MassDEP will address each site on a case-by-case basis.

Download of audio of SAC presentation on Indoor Air Guidance Update  from Archive.org
http://www.archive.org/details/MassDEP-AdvisoryCommittee-BWSC-June262008-Indoor-Air
(mp3 audio file and other formats)

Powerpoint Presentation: Draft Indoor Air Guidance Update

MS Powerpoint 68 KB | PDF 108 KB

Other Program Updates - Paul Locke

Asbestos in Soil - The Commissioner asked that one remaining issue be addressed; once that is resolved and the package is signed, the effective date will be delayed for nine months to allow time for training, additional work on the sieve method, landfill use preparation, and DOS regulatory activity.

Historic Fill - Department staff has met internally to discuss issues.

Resetting Deadlines Provision - MassDEP asked the audience why the new regulation, 310 CMR 40.0570, is not being used by many stakeholders. The responses included a concern that the deadline for use of the regulation had expired for pre-existing eligible persons.  There is also a general lack of awareness of the new provision.  Paul indicated that although the 120-day window has passed, MassDEP would encourage new owners to apply for a case-by-case review.  He also asked for assistance in ensuring that the legal community is aware of this option and promised that a fact sheet would be issued for use with clients to explain the provision's elements and how MassDEP will review those who apply.

Download of audio of SAC presentation on Other Program Updates from Archive.org
http://www.archive.org/details/MassDEP-AdvisoryCommittee-BWSC-June262008-Program-Updates
(mp3 audio file and other formats)

eDEP Web Viewer Demonstration - Paul discussed the history of encouraging use of electronic submittals, an effort that resulted in approximately 60 percent of all BWSC submittals coming in through eDEP.

Paul also requested that no more copies of checks be submitted with reports because of privacy issues.  MassDEP will amend the regulations to dispense with this requirement.

The site viewer currently accessed only those documents that have been submitted electronically.   MassDEP is in the process of having approximately 12 million pages of hard copy files scanned, beginning in NERO and Boston.  In a year or so, all the paper files should be converted.

Paul handed out cards with the web address http://public.dep.state.ma.us/wsc_viewer for accessing the web viewer and proceeded with the demonstration, noting that it should take approximately 10 minutes between submitting a document electronically and its appearance on the viewer. He also asked for feedback on whether stakeholders find it easy to use.

Download of audio for SAC presentation on Program Updates from Archive.org
http://www.archive.org/details/MassDEP-AdvisoryCommittee-BWSC-June262008-File-Viewer
(mp3 audio file and other formats)