MassDEP Brownfields Roundtables

The LSPA received the following email from MassDEP on Monday, May 5, 2025.

We are writing to recognize a significant LSPA transition. Mariellen Morris, our new Executive Director, begins her tenure tomorrow. We also bid farewell to Wendy Rundle, who will be stepping down from that role.  

Over the past 15 years, Wendy has been the beating heart for leading and building the LSPA into what it is today. Simply put, her contributions have been immeasurable. Wendy has worn just about every hat imaginable (and worn them well!). She has guided the LSPA through countless regulatory and guidance changes, LSPA budgetary ups and downs, a global pandemic, and has been integral in developing and advancing our member service offerings. 

Dear LSPA Members, Friends, and the Larger Community:

It is my pleasure to announce the appointment of Mariellen Morris as our new Executive Director, effective this Wednesday, May 7, 2025. Ms. Morris comes to the LSPA with over 20 years of experience in professional association management with expertise in strategic planning, operational efficiency, and stakeholder engagement. During her many years at the Boston-based Public Responsibility in Medicine and Research, she successfully led initiatives in program development for both in-person and virtual platforms, alongside efforts in partnership building, membership growth, resource utilization, and volunteer engagement. Ms. Morris holds a BA in Communications from Westfield State University, and an MA in Organizational Communication from Suffolk University.

Voting will open on Wednesday, May 14, 2025, for the 2025-2026 LSPA Board of Directors election. Board positions will take effect July 1, 2025. 

Ballots will be sent by email to all LSPA members, both Full and Associate. We encourage all members to vote.

The LSP Association requests your nominations for our 2025 "Contribution to the Practice" Awards. If you know of a deserving candidate and wish to nominate the person and/or organization, please complete this form. The deadline for nominations is Friday, August 8, 2025. The awards are presented annually in the fall at an LSPA event.

Nominations are solicited in the following categories:

The LSPA received the following email from MassDEP on Wednesday, April 23, 2025.

MassDEP has posted the Final GUIDANCE ON IMPLEMENTING ACTIVITY AND USE LIMITATIONS, Policy #WSC 25-300, April 23, 2025, available at: https://www.mass.gov/lists/policies-guidance-technical-support-for-site-cleanup. 

The following LSPA practice tip was introduced at the April 2025 Membership Meeting, which was held at the LSPA Environmental Symposium in Framingham, MA, on April 15, 2025.

Practice Tip of the Month
Every LSPA member has a Profile on the LSPA website that contains information for yourself and for the public.  Your name, address, areas of specialty, foreign language proficiency, whether you are a WBE or an MBE, and other information will be available on the public-facing LSPA website under “Find an LSP.”  This is an excellent resource for someone looking to hire a practitioner.  For your own private information, your Profile page has a menu for you to access all your transactions with the LSPA, including completed registration forms and invoices.

The Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection (MassDEP) Bureau of Waste Site Cleanup is holding an online informational meeting about upcoming Technical Assistance Grants (TAGs) funding. TAGs are available to community and municipal groups to enhance public participation in assessment and cleanup activities at oil or hazardous material disposal sites. TAGs may be used to obtain expert advice and technical assistance and to promote community education for qualifying projects.  The informational meeting will include a presentation on the purpose of the TAG program, grant eligibility requirements, and the grant application process and timelines.

The online informational meeting will take place on Wednesday, April 16, 2025 at 4:00 PM via Zoom. You may access the meeting via MassDEP’s TAG webpage at this link:  https://www.mass.gov/info-details/technical-assistance-grants-waste-site-cleanup

On March 19, 2025, Annual Certification letters were sent by MassDEP’s Bureau of Waste Site Cleanup to property owners where an Active Exposure Pathway Mitigation Measure (AEPMM) is required to maintain a Permanent Solution with Conditions under the Massachusetts Contingency Plan (MCP). The MCP requires that the current property owner submit an annual certification concerning the operation and maintenance of the AEPMM upon receipt of a form sent by MassDEP (310 CMR 40.1025(8)).

In addition to the annual certification, MassDEP is requesting that the property owner conduct a shutdown and restart test (310 CMR 40.1025(9)) to demonstrate the remote telemetry for the system is operating correctly. In total, seventy-four (74) letters were sent to property owners. Letters were also emailed when MassDEP had an email on file for the property owner. The deadline for returning the Annual Certification form is May 5, 2025. Annual Certification letters sent by MassDEP are publicly available on the Energy & Environmental Affairs Data Portal.  As MassDEP receives completed forms from property owners those letters will be added to the Data Portal as well. 

The LSPA appreciates that over 250 members took our Member Survey in November and December 2024. While we do not know if the survey findings are representative of LSPA members as a whole, we want to share the results.

As a reminder, the survey covered several topics:

The following LSPA practice tip was introduced at the March 2025 Membership Meeting, which was held via Zoom on March 20, 2025.

Practice Tip of the Month
Spring is a good time to document the condition of monitoring wells, especially after a busy snowplow season. Well covers that are damaged over the winter may no longer meet the requirements of 310 CMR 40.0028, which specifies:

The LSP Association Scholarship Fund is now accepting applications for educational scholarships for the 2025-2026 academic year. Deadline for submission is Friday, May 9, 2025.

The scholarship program supports continued education within environmental fields of study at colleges and universities throughout New England.

To LSPA Members:

The Nominating Committee of the LSP Association (LSPA) is in the process of developing a slate of candidates for the two available positions on the LSPA's Board of Directors. These are three-year positions beginning on July 1, 2025. The Board is comprised of nine members, two of whom may be Associate (non-LSP) members. Current Board members are listed on the LSPA website here. 

The Massachusetts Underground Storage Tank Program (UST Program) was established to administer the Massachusetts Underground Storage Tank Petroleum Product Cleanup Fund (21J Fund). The Fund was created in 1991 pursuant to M.G.L. Chapter 21J.

The 21J Fund was approved in 1992 by the EPA as a state financial assurance mechanism for UST owners. To oversee the Fund, a 9-member Administrative Review Board (21J Board) was established. The Fund is administered by the MA Department of Revenue. The 21J Board holds a 2-hour monthly virtual meeting as well as monthly 2 to 4-hour appeal hearings as needed for reimbursement requests. Periodically, there is work to be done by ad hoc subcommittees and work groups.  

The Board of Registration of Hazardous Waste Site Cleanup Professionals (the LSP Board) oversees hazardous waste site cleanup professionals, also known as LSPs. The LSP Board is comprised of eleven members as set forth in M.G.L. c.21A, Section 19A.

Currently, the LSP Board has one vacant seat which according to statute, must be filled by persons who are “. . . members of statewide organizations that promote the protection of the environment at the time of appointments and who are knowledgeable with respect to issues involving responding to releases of oil and hazardous materials.” The appointee must have waste site cleanup experience i.e., assessment, containment, and removal as well knowledge of M.G.L. c. 21E. The appointment is subject to confirmation by the Governor.

The MCP-mandated March 1, 2025 deadline is fast approaching.

Pursuant to 310 CMR 40.0560(7)(i)(4.)(b), a Periodic Review of the Temporary Solution and Tier Classification Extension shall be submitted within one year of March 1, 2024 for disposal sites where Active O&M is not occurring and the following apply: (i) a Temporary Solution Statement for a disposal site was submitted to the Department prior to March 1, 2024; (ii) the Tier Classification had expired prior to March 1, 2024, and (iii) Status Reports and, as applicable, the Periodic Review of the Temporary Solution had not been submitted at the frequency specified pursuant to 310 CMR 40.0898 and 310 CMR 40.1050(4) prior to March 1, 2024.

The following LSPA practice tip was introduced at the February 2025 Membership Meeting, which was held via Zoom on February 12, 2025.

Practice Tip of the Month
When an MCP submittal form is required, you should download the form directly from the MassDEP website. That way you will have the most current version of the form rather than a possibly outdated version saved to your desktop or laptop.

The LSPA recently received the below request for volunteers to sit on an advisory committee convened by the Massachusetts State Geologist. If you are interested in being considered for this committee, please respond to [email protected] by no later than January 29, 2025.  

Massachusetts recently appointed Brian Yellen as the State Geologist and director of the State Geological Survey, taking over from Steve Mabee who served the state for 22 years. In order to best serve various stakeholder communities around the state, Brian is setting up an advisory committee made up of state government officials, academics, and engineering practitioners. 

2024 flew by while the LSPA advocated for the waste site cleanup practice and supported practitioners throughout the Commonwealth. We are always eager to review and assess our annual accomplishments and this year is no different. We can’t say “thank you” enough to LSPA members, committees, workgroup leaders, and committee chairs who make this association successful. We also applaud our annual and event sponsors who underwrite our work; we appreciate your confidence in our ability to carry out our mission. Below are some 2024 highlights.  

The following LSPA compliance tip was introduced at the December 2024 Membership Meeting, which was held via Zoom on December 18, 2024.

Compliance Tip of the Month
While the MCP requires an assessment of “reasonably foreseeable future changes in site conditions” related to climate change, it does not indicate a specific assessment timeframe.