MassDEP announced that the application for the FY2024-25 Technical Assistance Grant (TAG) is now available. This grant opportunity provides $200,000 in funding, with up to $20,000 per community or municipal applicant-group selected for an award, to enhance public involvement and promote better understanding of the cleanup of contaminated sites in their communities.
The application deadline is Friday, October 13, 2023.
MassDEP Technical Assistance Grant (TAG) Program
FY24-25 Opportunity and Application
Anticipated Release Date: June 29, 2023
The Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection (MassDEP) Bureau of Waste Site Cleanup announces the upcoming release of the FY24-25 Technical Assistance Grant (TAG) funding opportunity. 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.
Please be advised that MassDEP’s online filing system, eDEP, will be intermittently unavailable due to server maintenance on June 6, 2023, from 8 am to 6 pm.
While parts of the application may be accessible, to avoid potential data loss, MassDEP recommends that users do not create or submit any eDEP transactions during this time period.
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 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 Tuesday, June 6, 2023 at 7:00 PM via Zoom. You may access the meeting via MassDEP’s TAG webpage.
On March 14, 2023, EPA announced the proposed National Primary Drinking Water Regulation (NPDWR) for six PFAS including PFOA, PFOS, PFNA, HFPO-DA (commonly known as GenX Chemicals), PFHxS, and PFBS. The proposed PFAS NPDWR does not require any actions until it is finalized. EPA anticipates finalizing the regulation by the end of 2023. For more details click here.
EPA is requesting public comment on the proposed regulation. The public comment period will open following the proposed rule publishing in the Federal Register. Public comments can be provided at that time at www.regulations.gov under Docket ID: EPA-HQ-OW-2022-0114.
The following LSPA practice tip was introduced at the February 2023 Membership Meeting, which was held virtually on February 15, 2023.
Practice Tip of the Month:
Administrative issues with Activity and Use Limitations (AULs) commonly result in the issuance of Notices of Noncompliance. One helpful tool for reviewing an AUL and its exhibits and assessing whether all requirements for submitting an AUL have been met, is the AUL Compliance Assistance Checklist available in Appendix I of MassDEP’s 2014 Draft Guidance on Implementing AULs.
The Massachusetts Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs (EEA) recently announced the release of its draft EEA secretariat-wide Environmental Justice (EJ) Strategy.
The EJ Strategy was developed by a Secretariat-wide EJ Task Force comprised of representatives of each of EEA’s agencies, major offices, and affiliated organizations. The draft strategy contains chapters that pertain to each of these agencies and offices, and is tailored to the unique mandate of each entity. It also provides a consistent approach to common issues, such as the development of EJ metrics to measure progress, staff training for awareness of EJ issues, commitment to diversity in hiring, inclusion of EJ criteria in grant disbursement and commitment to provision of languages services.
The following LSPA practice tip was presented at the November 2022 Membership Meeting, which was held virtually through the Zoom webinar platform, on November 15, 2022.
Practice Tip of the Month:
The LSPA has developed a Climate Change MCP Toolkit to assist practitioners as they consider the potential effects of climate change on site assessment and response actions. This is anticipated to be required by the pending amendments to the MCP. The toolkit includes a flowchart, checklist, two case studies, glossary, and list of resources.
MassDEP’s Bureau of Waste Site Cleanup Advisory Committee met on October 27, 2022 for several hours. Typically, MassDEP posts the slides and recordings of Advisory Committee meetings here. At this time, these have not yet been posted.
A brief summary of meeting highlights is provided below.
The following LSPA practice tip was presented at the October 2022 Membership Meeting, which was held virtually through the Zoom webinar platform, on October 27, 2022.
Practice Tip of the Month:
Did you know MassDEP's position is that discarded carbon canisters, as a generated waste, are a sludge and subject to 310 CMR 30.302: Determination of Whether a Waste is Hazardous? Accordingly, per policy HW94‐007, a spent carbon canister that contains hazardous waste constituents from a listed hazardous waste source must be managed as a hazardous waste, regardless of whether the carbon canisters were used to treat groundwater or vapors from groundwater or soils.
AND…..we’re back! The LSPA was excited to hold several in-person events over the past month.
Along with MassDEP and AMWS – The Association of Massachusetts Wetland Scientists, we held two sessions of “Wetlands, Wetland Regulations, and the MCP.” This full day course involved time exploring five wetlands field stations and got rave reviews from participants.
The LSPA has developed a Climate Change MCP Toolkit to assist waste site cleanup practitioners as they consider the potential effects of climate change on site assessment and response actions. This is anticipated to be required by the pending amendments to the Massachusetts Contingency Plan (MCP).
The climate change toolkit is available through links in this email as well as on the LSPA website. The tools are reflective of the framework defined in the (the SHMCAP, MA SHMCAP Portal). The SHMCAP accounts for projected changes in precipitation and temperature, sea level rise, and extreme weather events, and aims to reduce the risks associated with natural hazards and the effects of climate change.
The following LSPA practice tip was presented at the September 2022 Membership Meeting, which was held virtually through the Zoom webinar platform, on September 14, 2022.
Practice Tip of the Month:
Did you know that you can access MassDEP Level 1 audit results through the MassDEP Site File Viewer?
Members of the LSPA’s Technical Practices Committee are creating a Work Group to review the documents listed below.
As part of this effort, the Work Group is reviewing the LSPA Comments on Historic Fill/Anthropogenic Background DRAFT Technical Update 2016, July 14, 2016, which were previously transmitted to MassDEP.
MassDEP has announced that the application for the FY2023-24 Technical Assistance Grant (TAG) is now available. This grant opportunity provides $200,000 in funding, with up to $20,000 per community or municipal applicant-group selected for an award, to enhance public involvement and promote better understanding of the cleanup of contaminated sites in their communities.
The application deadline is Tuesday, October 18, 2022.
The following LSPA compliance tip was presented at the June 2022 Membership Meeting, which was held virtually through the Zoom webinar platform, on June 21, 2022.
Compliance Tip of the Month:
Pursuant to 310 CMR 40.1074(5), in addition to the requirement to incorporate a Notice of Activity and Use Limitation (AUL) into deeds or other instruments of property transfer, a copy of the deed or other instrument (with the incorporated AUL) must be submitted to MassDEP within 30 days of recording. This must be done using Section B, item 11, of the BWSC113 form (note that an LSP signature/stamp is not required for this submittal). Both the former and new property owners have this obligation; however, a submittal provided by either of those parties meets the requirements for both of them.
The following LSPA compliance tip was presented at the April 2022 Membership Meeting, which was held virtually through the Zoom webinar platform, on April 14, 2022.
Compliance Tip of the Month:
Any time environmental samples are taken at a listed disposal site on behalf of someone other than the owner of the property, the person(s) conducting the response action shall provide the owner of the property with a written notice using BWSC-123 prior to the sampling, or no more than seven days after the sampling if it was conducted as part of an IRA to address a 2-hour notification.
The following LSPA compliance tip was presented at the February 2022 Membership Meeting, which was held virtually through the Zoom webinar platform, on February 16, 2022.
Compliance Tip:
How to Improve Your Public Involvement Plan Meetings - Recommendations and Case Study
2.0 LSP Technical Credits (#1903)
Live Webinar via Zoom
LSPA Goes to the Hartford Yard Goats
Dunkin' Park
Hartford CT
No Credit Available
PFAS in Massachusetts Drinking Water Supplies and Surface Waters: An Overview and Two Case Studies
1.0 DEP Regulatory Credit (#1825A)
On-Demand Course
LSP Board Updates/Overview of the Rules of Professional Conduct
1.5 DEP Regulatory Credits (#1855)
On-Demand Course
LSPA activities and initiatives typically begin at the committee level. LSPA committees are actively involved in all aspects of the association.
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