[CPEO-BIF] Massachusetts regulators to re-open as many as 200 TCE sites

[Lenny Siegel <lsiegel@cpeo.org>]

If MassDEP calls…

by Kathleen Brill 
JD Supra Business Advisor
February 4, 2016

At a recent meeting of the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection’s Waste Site Cleanup Advisory Committee, MassDEP announced that it will soon begin the process of contacting owners of previously closed sites where the available data suggest that trichloroethylene (TCE) levels may be problematic. Back in June of 2014, MassDEP promulgated rules updating its standards to reflect the most recent USEPA toxicity values. MassDEP updated its imminent hazard standards for TCE exposure in indoor air and simultaneously updated its MCP Method 1 soil and groundwater standards and reportable concentrations to reflect the new values.

MassDEP has now screened approximately 1,000 sites that had previously been closed under the MCP, where groundwater concentrations measured at the time of closure would exceed the new standard of 5 μg/L.   Of these, MassDEP identified approximately 200 as priority sites — those where it seems likely that an imminent hazard may exist under the new standards.   The majority of these sites are in the Northeast region. Although MassDEP does not intend to pursue investigation of the remaining 800 sites, it may later decide to do so if it finds more hazardous conditions than anticipated on the priority list.

…

For the entire article, see
http://www.jdsupra.com/legalnews/if-massdep-calls-72501/

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Lenny Siegel
Executive Director, Center for Public Environmental Oversight
a project of the Pacific Studies Center
278-A Hope St., Mountain View, CA 94041
Voice: 650/961-8918 or 650/969-1545
Fax: 650/961-8918
<lsiegel@cpeo.org>
http://www.cpeo.org

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