MassDEP has released the following guidance documents for public comment by the waste site cleanup community in Massachusetts. LSPA members are welcome to submit comments to the LSPA for inclusion in our comment letter or directly to MassDEP.

Characterization of Petroleum Contaminated Sites:
MassDEP has posted a new Public Comment Draft document for petroleum contaminated sites. The draft document is an update to the “Characterizing Risk Posed by Petroleum Contaminated Sites: Implementation of the MADEP VPH/EPH Approach,” dated October 31, 2002.

The Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection has updated its Method for the Determination of Volatile Petroleum Hydrocarbons by Gas Chromatography/Photoionization Detector/Flame Ionization Detector (VPH by GC/PID/FID) and the corresponding CAM protocol, WSC-CAM-IVA, Quality Control Requirements and Performance Standards for the Analysis of Volatile Petroleum Hydrocarbons (VPH) by Gas Chromatography/Photoionization Detector/Flame Ionization Detector in Support of Response Actions under the Massachusetts Contingency Plan. The updates include revised calibration requirements, changes to retention time windows for aliphatic hydrocarbons, required traps for the purge-and-trap process, new requirements for data deliverables, and a series of other minor revisions and clarifications. The revised method may be found here VPH Method by GC/PIC/FID. A complete list of the updates is provided in the preface of the revised method. 

Laboratories that are currently performing VPH by GC/PID/FID must make the necessary adjustments to implement the changes to the method on or before June 1, 2018 to comply with the method requirements and certify that the method is being performed in conformance with the CAM protocol, found here WSC-CAM-IVA. If you have questions about the revised method or CAM protocol, you may contact MassDEP at [email protected].