Thursday, March 27, 2008 
9:30 a.m.
MassDEP Boston
Washington Street Conference Center, 2nd Floor
One Winter Street
Boston, Massachusetts

Highlights and Updates

Members present:  Susan Chapnick, Ileen Gladstone, Steve Dodge, Dave MacDonald, David Begelfer, and Janine Commerford.  Thirty-five people signed the sign-in sheet.

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

• The Environmental Bond Bill hearing last week went well; it includes money to fund 21E site work and landfill assessments, and information technology infrastructure (see the related e-DEP item)
• For January and February, nearly half of LSP submittals were sent through e-DEP.  The bond bill will help MassDEP complete the conversion to virtual site files: electronic file viewers will begin operating by May to allow anyone to review electronic files over the web from any location; a BWSC file scanning project will start in NERO next month and take up to one year to complete the scanning of all BWSC files in all regions and Boston. Once sufficient IT infrastructure is in place (estimated in two or so years), this will enable all BWSC files to be viewed online from anywhere.
• A number of training opportunities are on the horizon that provide for plenty of advance notice and capacity; the audit case study sessions will continue this spring and more regional office "technical nights" are planned (NERO will host another in May).  Contact Janine, Paul Locke, or Liz Callahan with suggested topics.
• The second round of Technical Assistance Grants has just been announced.  http://mass.gov/dep/cleanup/tagnote.htm Applications must be received by May 2.
• Stakeholders are encouraged to submit case histories about difficult residential oil spill cases to help support passage of the homeowners oil spill legislation. 
• The asbestos-in-soil regulations package is being sent to the commissioner on March 28 and then to EEA.
• EPA has authorized MassDEP to assume responsibility for the Corrective Action component of its RCRA program.  25-30 sites will be folded into the 21E program; submission of an RAO will be viewed as the equivalent of meeting EPA closure requirements.

Download audio of SAC Opening Remarks from Archive.org
 http://www.archive.org/details/MassdepBwscacMarch272008-WelcomeAndUpdates
(mp3 audio file and other formats)

Tier ID Compliance Initiative - Kristin LaCroix described the initiative, which is designed to bring non tier-classified "default" sites into compliance.  In January approximately 400 letters were sent to PRPs for these sites, who are a mixture  of  homeowners, municipalities, and small businesses.  The recipients have until June 30, 2008 to come into compliance by submitting a tier classification, an RAO, or a financial inability application for the site, or otherwise come into compliance. To date, about 25 of these sites have come into compliance, and a dozen or so financial inability inquiries have been received.  Failure to comply with the terms in the letters will subject recipients to default Annual Compliance Fees and MassDEP enforcement.

Download of audio of SAC presentation on Tier ID Compliance Initiative from Archive.org
http://www.archive.org/details/MassdepBwscacMarch272008-TiedIdComplinace
(mp3 audio file and other formats)

MassDEP Emerging Contaminants Initiative - Carol Rowan-West discussed MassDEP's effort to address emerging contaminants (MS Powerpoint 146 KB | PDF 155 KB)

After setting perchlorate standards, the MassDEP Commissioner and senior managers decided that the Perchlorate Workgroup should be transformed to an Emerging Contaminant Workgroup to address other emerging contaminants. The Emerging Contaminant Workgroup is comprised of representatives from all MassDEP bureaus and regional offices and consults with area experts and performs outreach to department advisory groups and stakeholders.  Recent advances in our ability to detect and analyze the more than 85K chemicals available in this country, as well as data from monitoring humans and wildlife, argued for establishing an initiative to deal with emerging contaminants. 

A master list of candidate contaminants, updated each January and July, was culled from a review of drinking water and air program databases.  A screening process resulted in 9 that rose to top priority: pharmaceuticals and personal care products, endocrine disrupters, RDX, tetrachloroethylene, nanoparticles, brominated flame retardants, MtBE, trichoroethylene, and tungsten.  RDX was included in the MCP amendments that became effective on February 14.

Carol encouraged the audience to contact her Carol.RowanWest@state.ma.us with suggestions for additional contaminants to review based on their experience in the field. 

Download of audio of SAC presentation on MassDEP Emerging Contaminants Initiative from Archive.org
http://www.archive.org/details/MassdepBwscacMarch272008-EmergingContaminants
(mp3 audio file and other formats)

Indoor Air Standard Operating Procedures - Paul Locke related that MassDEP developed an internal SOP to direct MassDEP staff actions to address vapor intrusion investigation and mitigation at disposal sites.  There is curiosity and confusion by LSPs and others about the purpose of this document, and whether it would be made public, and if so, in what format.  Paul explained that  the SOP is not intended to serve as external guidance, but because it does include a great deal of useful technical information, MassDEP is considering the best way to make this internal document available to LSPs and others who may be addressing vapor intrusion issues.  (MS Powerpoint 249 KB | PDF 570 KB)

The audience made several suggestions regarding the document::

• Ensure that the tables include the updated version of the URF for PCE
• Expand the cleanup options beyond sub-slab depressurization
• Address how the document relates to existing indoor air sampling guidance
• Redouble efforts to educate MassDEP staff that the procedures are not policy or regulation and thus practitioners in the field are not required to follow each step.

[Note: following the discussion at the SAC meeting, MassDEP has decided to make the document available to the public as is, with a cover letter explaining that the document is not intended as guidance but may be used as a technical resource at the reader's discretion.  See http://www.mass.gov/dep/cleanup/laws/policies.htm#ssds]

Download of audio of SAC presentation on Indoor Air Standard Operating Procedures from Archive.org http://www.archive.org/details/MassdepBwscacMarch272008-IndoorAirSop
(mp3 audio file and other formats)

Comments on the draft Indoor Air Technical Update - Liz Callahan discussed the comments received on the draft Technical Update, "Using Upper Percentile Values Within The Range Of Typical Indoor Air Concentrations At Residences and Schools".  (MS Powerpoint 89 KB | PDF 28 KB) The document includes a list of upper percentile values (UPVs) within the range of typical indoor air concentrations and guidance on how UPVs may be used to support response action decisions at residences and schools.  The document also discussed the criteria used to identify the best indoor air datasets and the methodology used to develop the list of UPVs to ensure our tables included the latest, most accurate numbers.

Comments were received from NAIOP, LSPA, IOMA, AMEC, and Susan Chapnick.  They focused on:

• Lines of evidence term is vague
• UPVs relationship to 21E/MCP background
• Approach differs from other guidance
• Risk management criteria
• Development of UPVs (studies, percentiles, mean vs. median)

MassDEP will address the comments, then issue a response to comments and a second draft some time prior to the next SAC meeting..  These documents will be posted on BWSC's website.

Several members of the audience expressed concern that the draft indicated that MassDEP was abandoning the concept of background in indoor air situations.  To the question of whether the external workgroup that was involved in identifying the datasets from which the updated indoor air concentrations were developed would meet again, Liz indicated that if issues related to the datasets were identified that would benefit from an external workgroup meeting, then a meeting would be considered.

Download of audio for SAC presentation  on the draft Indoor Air Technical Update from Archive.org
http://www.archive.org/details/MassdepBwscacMarch272008-TypicalIndoorAirLevels
(mp3 audio file and other formats)

Historic Fill Workgroup Update - Paul Locke stated that the workgroup met at the end of January to discuss options that provide endpoints for sites with historic fill to be identified, investigated, and closed.   Comments submitted on the options will be discussed in an internal meeting and one will be selected for further development.  We expect that another workgroup meeting could be held in late April.

Download of audio for SAC presentation on Historic Fill Workgroup Update from Archive.org
http://www.archive.org/details/MassdepBwscacMarch272008-HistoricFillAndRcra
(mp3 audio file and other formats)

Overheads/Documents

Emerging Contaminant Project

MS Powerpoint 146 KB | PDF 155 KB

Draft Indoor Air SOP Presentation

MS Powerpoint 249 KB | PDF 570 KB

Indoor Air SOP

Web page

Comments Received on Draft  "Using Upper Percentile Values within the Range of Typical Indoor Air Values at Residences and Schools"

MS Powerpoint 89 KB | PDF 28 KB