Subchapter A. GENERAL PROVISIONS

§ 250.1. Definitions.

 In addition to the words and terms defined in the act, the following words and terms, when used in this chapter, have the following meanings, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise:

   ASTM—The American Society for Testing and Materials.

   Act—The Land Recycling and Environmental Remediation Standards Act (35 P. S. § §  6026.101—6026.909).

   Agricultural purposes—Commercial agricultural activities, including, but not limited to, irrigation of crops, watering of livestock, and food production, processing or packaging.

   Anisotropy—The variability of a physical property based on direction, for example, variation in permeability in relation to direction of groundwater flow.

   Community water system—As defined in the Pennsylvania Safe Drinking Water Act (35 P. S. § §  721.1—721.17), a public water system, which serves at least 15 service connections used by year-round residents or regularly serves at least 25 year-round residents.

   EQL—Estimated quantitation limit.

   Enterprise zone—An area specially designated as an enterprise zone under requirements determined by the Department of Community and Economic Development.

   Environmental protection acts—Includes:

     (i)   The Clean Streams Law (35 P. S. § §  691.1—691.1001).

     (ii)   The Municipal Waste Planning, Recycling and Waste Reduction Act (53 P. S. § §  4001.101—4001.1904).

     (iii)   The Hazardous Sites Cleanup Act (35 P. S. § §  6020.101—6020.1305).

     (iv)   The Low-Level Radioactive Waste Disposal Act (35 P. S. § §  7130.101—7130.906).

     (v)   The act of July 13, 1988 (35 P. S. § §  6019.1—6019.6), known as the Infectious and Chemotherapeutic Waste Disposal Law.

     (vi)   The Air Pollution Control Act (35 P. S. § §  4001—4015).

     (vii)   The Surface Mining Conservation and Reclamation Act (52 P. S. § §  1396.1—1396.31).

     (viii)   The Noncoal Surface Mining Conservation and Reclamation Act (35 P. S. § §  3301—3326).

     (ix)   The Dam Safety and Encroachments Act (32 P. S. § §  693.1—693.27).

     (x)   The Solid Waste Management Act (35 P. S. § §  6018.101—6018.1003).

     (xi)   Other State or Federal statutes relating to environmental protection or the protection of public health.

   Habitats of concern—A habitat defined as one of the following:

     (i)   Typical wetlands with identifiable function and value, except for exceptional value wetlands as defined in §  105.17 (relating to wetlands).

     (ii)   Breeding areas for species of concern.

     (iii)   Migratory stopover areas for species of concern.

     (iv)   Wintering areas for species of concern.

     (v)   Habitat for State endangered plant and animal species.

     (vi)   Federal, State and local parks and wilderness areas, and areas designated as wild, scenic or recreational.

     (vii)   Areas otherwise designated as critical or of concern by the Game Commission, the Fish and Boat Commission or the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources.

   Heterogeneity—Nonhomogeneous structure, composition and physical properties.

   MCL—Maximum contaminant level.

   MSC—Medium-specific concentration.

   NIR—Notice of Intent to Remediate.

   NPDES—National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System.

   PQL—Practical quantitation limit.

   Property—A parcel of land defined by the metes and bounds set forth in the deed for that land.

   Regulated discharge—A point or nonpoint source discharge subject to the permit or approval requirements of Chapters 91—96, 97 (reserved) and 102—105 and any diffuse surface or groundwater discharge to surface waters which has the potential to cause an exceedance of the water quality standards in Chapter 93 (relating to water quality standards).

   Risk assessment—A process to quantify the risk posed by exposure of a human or ecological receptor to regulated substances. The term includes baseline risk assessment, development of site-specific standards and risk assessment of the remedial alternatives.

   SIA—special industrial area—Property where there is no financially viable responsible person to perform remediation or property located within an enterprise zone, and where the property was used for industrial activity.

   Secondary contaminants—A regulated substance for which a secondary MCL exists, and no lifetime health advisory level exists.

   Site—The extent of contamination originating within the property boundaries and all areas in close proximity to the contamination necessary for the implementation of remediation activities to be conducted under the act.

   Species of concern—Species designated as of special concern, rare, endangered, threatened or candidate by the Game Commission, the Fish and Boat Commission or the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, if the species has not also been designated threatened or endangered by the Federal government.

   TF—Transfer factor.

   Volatile compound—A chemical compound with a boiling point less than 200° centigrade at 1 atmosphere.

 (a)  This chapter provides remediation standards which shall be used whenever site remediation is voluntarily conducted or is required under environmental statutes in section 106 of the act (35 P. S. §  6026.106).

 (b)  A person who is required to perform a site remediation under an enforcement action of the Department shall meet the following:

   (1)  Select one or a combination of the background standards contained in Subchapter B (relating to background standard), Statewide health standards contained in Subchapter C (relating to Statewide health standards) and site-specific standards, contained in Subchapter D (relating to site-specific standards).

   (2)  Demonstrate compliance with the substantive, procedural and notice requirements of the act and this chapter.

 (c)  To qualify for liability protection under the act, a person conducting remediation shall comply with this chapter and the act. Administrative and procedural requirements for remediations in paragraphs (1) and (2) shall be used in lieu of those requirements listed in this chapter to qualify for liability protection under the act.

   (1)  Persons remediating sites placed on the Pennsylvania Priority List shall comply with the Hazardous Sites Cleanup Act (35 P. S. § §  6020.101—6020.1305), except for the cleanup levels which are set by the act.

   (2)  Persons remediating releases from storage tanks regulated under the Storage Tank and Spill Prevention Act (35 P. S. § §  6021.101—6021.2104) shall comply with the requirements of the corrective action process under the Storage Tank and Spill Prevention Act, except for the cleanup levels which are set by the act.

 (a)  Contaminated media removed for reuse, treatment or disposal shall be managed in accordance with the Solid Waste Management Act (35 P. S. § §  6018.101—6018.1003), The Clean Streams Law (35 P. S. § §  691.1—691.1001), the act of July 13, 1988 (P. L. 525, No. 93) (35 P. S. § §  6019.1—6019.6), known as the Infectious and Chemotherapeutic Waste Law, the Air Pollution Control Act (35 P. S. § §  4001—4015) and the regulations thereunder.

 (a)  The PQLs shall be selected from the PQLs specified by the EPA as EQLs in the most current version of the EPA RCRA Manual SW-846 (U. S. EPA, 1990. Test Methods for Evaluating Solid Waste, Physical/Chemical Methods. Third Edition. Office of Solid Waste and Emergency Response) for soil listed as ‘‘low level soil’’ and for groundwater listed as ‘‘groundwater’’ in accordance with the following:

   (1)  For inorganic compounds, the PQLs under this chapter shall be the values listed for methods associated with analysis by Inductively Coupled Plasma (ICP) with the following exceptions:

     (i)   For lead, cadmium, arsenic and selenium, values listed for the atomic absorption graphite furnace methods for water shall be used.

     (ii)   Mercury shall be the value listed for the cold vapor method.

   (2)  For organic compounds, the PQLs shall be the EQLs listed for the GC/Mass spec methods—for example, Method 8240 for volatile organic compounds.

 (b)  If the PQL selected under subsection (a) is higher than the MCL or HAL for an organic regulated substance in groundwater, the PQLs shall be derived from the analytical methodologies published under the drinking water program in the most current version of Methods for the Determination of Organic Compounds in Drinking Water (U. S. EPA, 1988, Environmental Monitoring Systems Laboratory, EPA/600/4-88/039). If a PQL determined under this subsection is not below a HAL, the methodologies in subsection (c)(1) or (2) shall be used unless those quantitation limits are higher than the PQL determined under this subsection.

 (c)  For regulated substances when EQLs set by the EPA have a health risk that is greater (less protective) than the risk levels set in sections 303(c) and 304(b) and (c) of the act (35 P. S. § §  6026.303(c) and 6026.304(b) and (c)) or for substances when no EQL has been established by the EPA, the limits related to the PQL shall be the quantitation limits established by the methodologies in paragraph (1) or (2).

   (1)  A level set by multiplying 3.18 by the published method detection limit (MDL) of the most recently approved EPA methodology.

   (2)  A level representing the lowest calibration point that can consistently be determined to have a percent relative standard deviation (%RSD) of less than 30% or correlation coefficient of greater than 0.995 using reagent water.

 (d)  For regulated substances which have no limits related to PQLs identified in subsection (c)(1) or (2), a person shall demonstrate attainment under the site-specific standard or the background standard.

 (e)  When a minimum threshold MSC is used as a Statewide health standard, the minimum threshold MSC is the Statewide health standard regardless of whether it is higher or lower than a quantitation limit established by this section.

 (f)  Nothing in this section restricts the selection of valid and generally accepted methods to be used to analyze samples of environmental media.

 (a)  Public notice under the background, Statewide health or site-specific standard and under a special industrial area cleanup shall be initiated by the applicant through an NIR. For remediations proposing the use of a site-specific standard or, for remediations under an SIA agreement, the public and the municipality where the site is located shall be provided a 30-day period, in the NIR, in which the municipality may request to be involved in the development of the remediation and reuse plans for the site.

 (b)  The remedial investigation report, the risk assessment report and the cleanup plan, prepared under a site-specific remediation, may not be submitted to the Department until after the initial 30-day public and municipal comment period following the submission of the NIR has expired.

 (c)  The baseline environmental report, prepared under an SIA remediation, shall be submitted after the initial 30-day public and municipal comment period has expired.

 (d)  For areas not covered entirely by a nonuse aquifer areawide certification granted under §  250.303(f) (relating to aquifer determination; current use and currently planned use of aquifer groundwater), at the same time a request for a nonuse aquifer designation under the Statewide health standard is made to the Department, the remediator shall send notice to every municipality and community water supplier servicing the area requested for designation as nonuse under §  250.303(b). The notice shall include a copy of the request for determination of nonuse aquifer submitted to the Department.

 (e)  Upon receipt of notice of a request for a nonuse aquifer designation, the municipality and community water supplier shall have 45 days to indicate to the Department and the remediator any information relevant to the requirements of §  250.303.

 (a)  The publication date of the summary of the NIR in a newspaper of general circulation in the area of the site shall initiate the 30-day public and municipal comment period during which the municipality can request to be involved in the development of the remediation and reuse plans for a site being remediatedto a site-specific standard or for remediation at an SIA.

 (b)  The person proposing remediation shall be responsible for developing and implementing a public involvement plan if both of the following circumstances exist:

   (1)  The remediation involves a site-specific standard or an SIA cleanup.

   (2)  A municipality, through its official representatives, has requested, in writing, to be involved in the development of the remediation and reuse plans within the 30-day public and municipal comment period identified in the notice to the municipality and the newspaper notice.

 (c)  If a public involvement plan has been initiated, the person proposing remediation shall, at a minimum, provide:

   (1)  Public access at convenient locations for document review.

   (2)  Designation of a single contact person to address questions from the community.

   (3)  A location near the remediation site for any public hearings and meetings that may be part of the public involvement plan.

 (d)  If a public involvement plan has been requested, it shall be submitted with one of the following:

   (1)  A remedial investigation report under a site-specific remediation.

   (2)  A baseline environmental report under an SIA cleanup.

 (a)  Resubmission of a cleanup plan, remedial investigation, risk assessment or final report will require payment of the appropriate fee identified in the act for each resubmission.

 (a)  A release of a regulated substance at a solid waste facility which did not receive waste after September 7, 1980, shall be remediated in accordance with this chapter and the act.

 (b)  Nothing in this chapter affects the permitting, operation, design, performance or closure requirements under the environmental protection acts or regulations thereunder. The remediation standards as defined in Chapters 271 and 287 (relating to municipal waste management—general provisions; and residual waste management—general provisions), do not substitute for design and performance standards required under the solid waste management regulations. See Articles VIII and IX (relating to municipal waste; and residual waste management). In the case of hazardous waste facilities, remediations shall comply with requirements applicable under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (42 U.S.C.A. § §  6091—6986).

 (c)  An unpermitted release or spill of a regulated substance at a permitted solid waste facility that is outside a disposal or processing unit, including surface impoundments, waste storage areas, associated piping and underlying containment systems, shall be remediated in accordance with this chapter and the act.

   The provisions of this §  250.9 amended under sections 5(b) and 402 of The Clean Streams Law (35 P. S. § §  691.5(b) and 691.402); section 302 of the Municipal Waste Planning, Recycling and Waste Reduction Act (53 P. S. §  4000.302); section 408(e) of the Pennsylvania Used Oil Recycling Act (58 P. S. §  408(e)); sections 1905-A, 1917-A and 1920-A of The Administrative Code of 1929 (71 P. S. § §  510-5, 510-17 and 510-20); sections 104(a), 301(c) and 303(a) of the Land Recycling and Environmental Remediation Standards Act (35 P. S. § §  6026.104(a), 6026.301(c) and 6026.303(a)); section 105(4) of the Waste Tire Recycling Act (35 P. S. §  6029.105(4)); sections 301 and 302 of the Radiation Protection Act (35 P. S. § §  7110.301 and 7110.302); and the Vehicle Code, 75 Pa.C.S. §  4909(e).

 (a)  For measuring regulated substances in soil and sediments, analyses shall be performed on a dry weight basis.

 (b)  For metals in soil, analyses shall be performed on total metals, except for hexavalent and trivalent chromium, which analyses shall be performed individually.

 (c)  For groundwater, samples for metals analysis shall be field filtered and field acidified in accordance with the most current version of the Groundwater Monitoring Guidance Manual, Department of Environmental Protection, 3610-BK-DEP1973.

 (d)  For groundwater where monitoring is being performed at a drinking water well, samples for metals analysis shall be field acidified and unfiltered in accordance with the most current version of Groundwater Monitoring Guidance Manual, Department of Environmental Protection, 3610-BK-DEP1973.

 (e)  For surface water, samples for metals analysis shall be field acidified in accordance with approved EPA analytical methods in §  16.102 (relating to approved EPA analytical methods and detection limits).

 (f)  For air, samples and analyses shall be performed in accordance with Chapters 131 and 139 (relating to ambient air quality standards; and sampling and testing).