Listed below are a series of hyperlinks to other locations on our web site, as well as other web sites of interest. After reviewing this material, if you need more information, or just want to talk to a real person, Contact MassDEP.

Reporting Sudden Spills and/or Historical Contamination

If you need to report a sudden spill of oil or hazardous materials, click on Reporting a Spill to get information and details on notification procedures. If you are not sure whether something requires reporting, a good synopsis of reporting requirements for petroleum spills is provided in the MassDEP Policy Underground Storage Tank Closure Assessment Manual (publication WSC-402-96), available for downloading from the Policies page of the BWSC Publications site. For complete details on all notification obligations (and exemptions), consult Section 40.0300 of the Massachusetts Contingency Plan.

Program Information, Publications, and Documents

To learn more about the Bureau of Waste Site Cleanup, the MassDEP cleanup program, and the Massachusetts Contingency Plan (MCP), check out the overview of the BWSC program. All program regulations, policies, and guidance materials are available for downloading from the Site Cleanup Home Page. The state regulations which govern this program are the Massachusetts Contingency Plan or MCP, codified as 310 CMR 40.0000. You can either download this (voluminous) document from the BWSC Regulations page, or order an official copy from the State Book Store.

If you have a specific technical or regulatory matter or question not addressed on this web site, try our email-based inquiry system.

Information on Contaminated Sites

If you are a researcher, municipal official, concerned citizen, or anyone else interested in finding out about contaminated sites in your neighborhood, town, or region, getting the information you want may take a little digging. Start off with Sites, Site Lists, and Maps. If you need or want to know more about a site or location than the summary information provided on available databases, you'll need to come in and look at our files (see below).

Reviewing BWSC Files

Most files may be reviewed in the MassDEP Regional Service Centers. Click here to find out which Service Center contains files for sites in specific towns and for links to individual Service Center pages where you can learn about file review procedures. The exception is that files on the Federal "Superfund" (CERCLA) sites are generally kept at the MassDEP/Boston Office. To review these files, contact the BWSC/Boston project manager.

The Cleanup Process

For a thumbnail sketch of the process that must be followed to report, assess, and close out contaminated sites, see Overview of Cleanup Process.

Community Concerns

Are you concerned about a contaminated site(s) within your neighborhood or community? Worried about whether the water from your well is safe? Or why it seems like you can't get straight answers to your questions? Click on Community Concerns for more discussion of these issues.

Opportunities for Public Involvement

There are a number of ways in which the public may become more active in the assessment and cleanup of contaminated sites in their communities. Check out Public Involvement for details.

Homeowners and Small Businesses

Homeowners and small businesses can be especially overwhelmed by the site assessment and cleanup process. For some real-life and practical advice, check out our Homeowners pages.

Underground Storage Tanks

In Massachusetts, underground storage tanks are regulated by two state agencies: the Massachusetts Department of Public Safety (EOPS) and Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection (MassDEP). DPS, through local fire departments, oversees the installation, maintenance, and removal of underground storage tanks. MassDEP only gets involved at sites where these tanks have leaked oil or hazardous materials into the environment, or where a leak is threatened. The first point of contact in all cases should be the local fire department.

For general information on tank installation/testing/removal, see 527 CMR 9.00, available through the State Book Store. For more information on the remediation reimbursement program, see the Massachusetts Underground Storage Tank Program. If you are thinking about removing or closing a tank, consult the DPS/DEP Policy Underground Storage Tank Closure Assessment Manual(April 1996) for details and recommendations in this regard, including requirements for conducting the closure assessment evaluation required by federal regulations. This policy may be downloaded from the BWSC Final Policies page. If you are a homeowner with a small heating fuel tank, see the Homeowners pages.

Technically Speaking

A number of pages have been devoted to technical and program issues that should be of particular interest to Licensed Site Professional (LSPs):

• Audit Program - The home page of the BWSC Audits Section. Information is provided on the auditing process, issues of current interest, and the latest BWSC audit findings of significance.

• Public Involvement - One of the biggest areas of non-compliance observed by BWSC is the lack of appropriate notice to local officials. To make this as painless as possible, learn about and download a synopsis of these requirements, as well as other guidelines on Public Involvement Issues, including directions on preparing a Public Involvement Plan.

Forms

All significant milestones in the site notification, assessment, remediation and closure process must be memorialized by the filing of specified forms that have been developed by MassDEP. While nobody particularly likes using forms, it is the only way the agency can reasonably interpret and track actions that are occurring at thousands of sites that are not being overseen by MassDEP staff. All forms are available electronically on the Forms section of the BWSC Publications page. For tips on filling out and submitting these forms, see Site RTNs/Status/Forms.

Acronyms

Don't know a UCL from a DPS? Help is at hand, by downloading List of Common Environmental Regulation Acronyms. For an explanation of MassDEP's naming/numbering convention for spills, sites, and releases, see Everything You Always Wanted to Know About RTNs.