Is "Presumptive Certainty" Generating Usable Data for Massachusetts Contingency Plan (MCP) Decisions? 
Susan D. Chapnick, New Environmental Horizons, Inc., Arlington, MA
Elizabeth Denly, TRC Environmental Corporation, Lowell, MA
Nancy C. Rothman, New Environmental Horizons, Inc., Skillman, NJ

New Jersey’s Pursuit of Natural Resource Damages – Is Your State Next?
Douglas R. Beal, BEM Systems, Inc., Chatham, NJ 
Anita O’Connor, BEM Systems, Inc., Chatham, NJ

Risk Based Corrective Action in Florida
Kathryn S. Salvador, Florida Power & Light Company, Juno Beach, FL 

Comprehensive Human Health Risk Assessment Shortforms, SF 2004, Developed by the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection:  Efficiency, Consistency, and Transparency 
Andrew S. Friedmann, Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection, Boston, MA 

How Interstate Collaboration Can Improve Site Cleanups: Triad and the ITRC
Stuart J. Nagourney, New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection, Trenton, NJ 
Ruth Chang, Ph.D., Hazardous Materials Laboratory, Berkeley, CA

Is "Presumptive Certainty" Generating Usable Data for Massachusetts Contingency Plan (MCP) Decisions? 

Susan D. Chapnick, New Environmental Horizons, Inc., 2 Farmer’s Circle, Arlington, MA 02474, Tel: 781-643-4294, Fax: 781-643-4294 (call first), Email: s.chapnick@comcast.net
Elizabeth Denly, TRC Environmental Corporation, Boott Mills South, Foot of John Street, Lowell, MA 01852, Tel: 978-656-3577, Fax: 978-453-1995, Email: edenly@trcsolutions.com
Nancy C. Rothman, New Environmental Horizons, Inc., 34 Pheasant Run Drive, Skillman, NJ 08558, Tel: 908-874-5686, Fax: 908-874-4786, Email: n.rothman@patmedia.net

On August 1, 2003, MADEP finalized a Compendium of Analytical Methods (CAM) recommended to provide “presumptive certainty” for environmental data used to support MCP decisions in submittals made by the Licensed Site Professional (LSP). As the guidelines are now over one year old, this presentation offers a retrospective on the quality of the data generated under this program. Based on case studies, we discuss several key technical, reporting, and logistical issues that have been resolved or need to be resolved going forward in the areas of sample collection, sample analysis, and data reporting using the MADEP CAM.  Additionally, as an integral component of evaluation of MCP data quality, the regulatory-required data usability assessment (including an assessment of environmental data representativeness), promulgated in the MCP Wave 2 package, requires a further assessment of the data to meet the project objectives – however, guidance on compliance with this requirement is not yet available from MADEP.  Recommendations will be made on how to comply with this new requirement in MCP submittals through interpretation of answers on the required “Certification Form”, evaluation of impact on data usability from issues noted in the laboratory report narrative, and through application of current technical and validation guidance for use of estimated (uncertain due to quality control exceedance) data.

New Jersey’s Pursuit of Natural Resource Damages – Is Your State Next?

Mr. Douglas R. Beal, PG, B.S. Geology, BEM Systems, Inc., 100 Passaic Avenue, Chatham, NJ 07928, Tel: 908-598-2600, extension 181, Fax: 908598-2622, Email: dbeal@bemsys.com
Ms. Anita O’Connor, M.S. Environmental Engineering, BEM Systems, Inc., 100 Passaic Avenue, Chatham, NJ 07928, Tel: 908-598-2600, ext128, Fax: 908-598-2622, Email:  aoconnor@bemsys.com

The topic of this paper is the national implication and precedent of New Jersey’s new program to expand Natural Resource Damages (NRD) actions.  As of November 2003, New Jersey has settled over $42 million in NRD settlements from a limited number of cases and has publicly announced its intent to expand this successful program by pursuing another 4,000 cases within the state. This precedent has significant financial consequences for national firms, such as a manufacturing companies with multiple facilities and insurance carriers, as other trustees and states are considering pursuing NRD claims, following New Jersey’s model.

States such as New Jersey, have been delegated powers by federal authorities, to create and enforce environmental laws. Other states and trustees with similar delegated powers are following New Jersey’s lead by seeking their own NRD claims. Compensation for NRD is authorized under several statutes, the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980 (CERCLA) and the Oil Pollution Act of 1990 (OPA).  CERCLA and OPA, allow the governor of each state to designate state officials who may act on behalf of the public as state trustees for natural resources.

Earlier this year, the Yakama Nation (a federal trustee group) brought the first NRD suit against a Department of Energy nuclear facility, the Hanford Nuclear Reservation in eastern Washington.  The NRD liability may be as high as $50 billion dollars.  The case is expected to raise new issues for addressing NRD for radionuclides as well as tribal NRD claims.  Two new cases are being pursued by a state trustee.  Recently, the Burlington Northern and Santa Fe Railway Company (BNSF) agreed to pay $450,000 to the New Mexico Office of the Natural Resources Trustee and the United States Fish and Wildlife Service to plan, acquire and enhance additional wetlands to compensate for damage to natural resources at Santa Fe Lake.  New Mexico is also pursuing NRD claims against General Electric over groundwater contamination at the South Valley Superfund site near Albuquerque, New Mexico.

Risk Based Corrective Action in Florida

Kathryn S. Salvador, P.E., Florida Power & Light Company, Environmental Services Department, P.O. Box 14000, Juno Beach, FL  33408, Tel: 561-691-7054, Email: kathy_salvador@fpl.com  

The state of Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP) currently has three clean-up programs for which risk based corrective action is available, including the petroleum, dry cleaner, and brownfields programs.  After years of debate among the potential stakeholders, Florida’s “Global RBCA” bill passed during the 2003 legislative session. This will result in a state rule that will give responsible parties the ability to apply risk-based corrective action principles to all contaminated sites for which site rehabilitation is required. 

The FDEP has recently published a draft rule entitled “Contaminated Site Cleanup Criteria,” which provides the mechanisms for application of risk-based principles, and the specific requirements for achieving “No Further Action,” either with or without conditions, on a state-wide basis.  Per the Florida statue, the FDEP rule must be finalized by July 1, 2004.

This paper provides an overview of risk based corrective action as applied at existing Florida program sites, and the implications for extending these principles to all cleanup sites in the state.  A summary of the key rule provisions, including the specific risk principles as outlined in the new Global RBCA rule, are presented. Specific emphasis is placed on the rule’s projected strengths and pitfalls, with noted implications for the assessment and remediation of historical industrial sites, including former manufactured gas plants (MGPs).  For illustrative purposes, a brief description of former MGPs and the typical challenges associated with assessment and remediation of these historical sites is included.

Comprehensive Human Health Risk Assessment Shortforms, SF 2004, Developed by the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection:  Efficiency, Consistency, and Transparency 

Andrew S. Friedmann, Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection, Office of Research and Standards, 1 Winter Street, Boston, MA  02108, Tel: 617-292-5841, Fax: 617-556-1006, Email:  andrew.friedmann@state.ma.us

Exposure-specific human health risk assessments are often required in order to determine the level of remediation effort necessary at a site containing contaminated soil and water.  The Office of Research and Standards (ORS) has developed comprehensive shortforms, SF 2004, that characterize risks to humans following exposure to up to 117 COPCs in soil.  SF 2004 is a collection of self-contained, interconnected Excel spreadsheets that feature drop-down menus for the selection of Contaminants of Potential Concern (COPCs), full documentation for all exposure assumptions, and clear presentation of all mathematical equations used to calculate risks. These shortforms supersede the Residential Risk Assessment Shortform published in 1992.  They supplement the Gasoline Release Shortform and the Updated # 2 Fuel/Diesel Shortform published in July of 2002, which include only petroleum-related chemicals.  In addition to including an increased number of COPCs, SF 2004 assesses risks not just to residents, but also to construction workers, utility workers, trespassers, and recreational receptors.  The objectives of SSF 2004 are to streamline the risk assessment process, increase consistency, enhance transparency, and improve the efficiency of the regulatory site review process.

How Interstate Collaboration Can Improve Site Cleanups: Triad and the ITRC

Ruth R. Chang, California Environmental Protection Agency, Department of Toxic Substances Control, Hazardous Materials Laboratory, 700 Heinz Avenue, Suite 100, Berkeley, CA 94710, Tel: 510-540-2651, Fax: 510-540-2305, Email: rchang@dtsc.ca.gov
Stuart Nagourney, New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection, Office of Quality Assurance, PO Box 424, Trenton, NJ  08625, Tel: 609-292-4945, Email: stu.nagourney@dep.state.nj.us

The standard practice used by state and federal regulatory agencies that supervise the remediation of contaminated waste sites involves the development of a workplan that pre-defines a limited number of sampling locations, employs definitive laboratory-based analytical methods and evaluates results against pre-determined acceptance criteria.  With this practice, the developers, project managers and the regulatory agencies often found insufficient data to support decision making.  Follow-up sampling and analysis are needed to fill the data gap. This multi-stage investigative process for remedial action has been proven to be very expensive and time consuming.  To overcome this problem, the USEPA has proposed a Triad approach that integrates systematic project planning, dynamic work strategies and on-site analysis for the project management.  With this approach, several recent investigations have shown significant savings in time and costs, while providing more reliable scientific data for decision making.  The Interstate Technology Regulatory Council (ITRC), a consortium of state agencies, partners with the federal government, the military, academia, industry and other interested parties seeks innovative solutions to improve the working efficiency.  The ITRCs Sampling, Characterization and Monitoring (SCM) Team has completed a Technical and Regulatory Guidance summarizing the principles of the TRIAD approach and the scientific and technical requirements to employing this paradigm shift.  In this presentation, the work of the ITRCs SCM team will be discussed.  Several applications of this process that illustrate its advantages for hazardous site investigation and remediation will be highlighted.

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