Source: http://regulations.delaware.gov/register/december2018/proposed/22%20DE%20Reg%20448%2012-01-18.htm
Timestamp: 2018-12-19 05:11:38
Document Index: 202310873

Matched Legal Cases: ['§9103', 'art 312', '§9103', '§9123', '§9123', '§9105', '§9105', '§9105', '§9106', '§9109']

Delaware General Assembly : Delaware Regulations : Monthly Register of Regulations : December 2018
SAN # 2017-12
Delaware Regulations Governing Hazardous Substance Cleanup
The premise of the Brownfields Development Program (BDP) is to provide liability protections to parties who did not cause or contribute to the release of a hazardous substance on a real property. The intent is to investigate the property, ascertain the quantity and quality of contamination, its fate, transport, and pathways from the source material, and ultimately the potential harm to affected receptors. Upon completion of the investigation, an eligible brownfield developer would have to remediate the property before putting the property back into reuse. This would cleanup the property for the intended use and prevent any further migration of contamination off of the certified brownfield property.
Remediation of contamination that extends beyond the boundaries of a Brownfield property is not the responsibility of the Brownfield developer but rather all otherwise potentially responsible parties. As the regulations are currently written, certified brownfields are "facilities" which mandates the investigation and cleanup of hazardous substance releases wherever they may be located - on or off the certified brownfield property. The amendments to the Regulations create a definition of a "certified brownfield" to ensure the remedial responsibilities of the Brownfield Developer are limited only to the area of the certified brownfield.
In addition the terminology of "abandoned, vacant or underutilized" to define a potential brownfield has been changed to "the redevelopment, reuse or expansion may be hindered by the reasonable belief that the real property is environmentally contaminated" to mirror the language in the Brownfields Development Program enabling statute, 7 Del.C. Chapter 91. The statutory change was made to more closely align with the federal brownfield statute and regulations. While the change is not required by any federal mandate it will create consistency between the state and federal brownfields program that will assist in grant writing.
There is no sunset date for the Regulations.
7 Del.C. Chapter 91
Statements and testimony may be presented either orally or in writing at a public hearing to be held on Wednesday, January 9, 2019 starting at 6:00 PM in the DNREC Richardson & Robbins Auditorium, 89 Kings Highway, Dover, DE. If you are unable to attend or wish to submit your comments in advance of the public hearing, please send your comments to the address below. Interested parties may also submit written comments to the Department, to the same address below, up until the end of the comment period, which will extend through January 24, 2019, unless a longer period is designated by the hearing officer at the public hearing.
DNREC - Site Investigation and Restoration Section
Subject: HSCA Regulations Hearing
Attn: Jill Williams-Hall
Jill.hall@state.de.us
Jill Williams-Hall, Planner IV, DNREC Site Investigation and Restoration Section.
Jill.Hall@state.de.us 302-395-2600
1.2.1	The requirements of these Regulations shall apply to any facility or Certified Brownfield with a release or imminent threat of release and any person or Certified Brownfields Developer who conducts an investigation or remedial action at a facility or Certified Brownfield with a release or imminent threat of release.
1.2.2.1	Releases excluded by 7 Del.C. §9103 (21)(25) a-d; or
1.2.3.2	At the request of the owner or operator or brownfield developer Certified Brownfields Developer; and
“Acceptable risk” means a probability of one additional lifetime incidence of cancer in 100,000 (1x10-5) or less for carcinogens, and a hazard index of one (1) or less for non-carcinogens, as applicable. For certain contaminants, where cancer or non-cancer risk does not apply, the Department may approve or require other methods that it determines are appropriate for determining risk.
“All Appropriate Inquiry” (AAI) or “AAI” means the requirements for assessing the environmental conditions of a property prior to its acquisition. Detailed requirements for AAI are presented in the EPA’s All Appropriate Inquiries Final Rule (40 CFR Part 312) (Nov. 1, 2005), as amended, or ASTM International’s Standard Practice for Environmental Site Assessments: Phase I Environmental Site Assessment Process (E 1527-05), as amended.
"ASTM" means ASTM International.
“Background level” means the concentration of substances widely present in the soil, sediment, air, surface water or groundwater in the vicinity of a facility or Certified Brownfield, or at a comparable reference area, due to natural causes or human activities other than releases from, or activities on, the facility or Certified Brownfield, as determined by the Department.
“Brownfields Development Program” means the remedial process established by the Department under 7 Del.C. Ch. 91, Subchapter II.
"Certified Brownfield" means a brownfield, as defined in 7 Del.C. §9103(3) and §9123(3), that the Secretary has certified upon finding that there is an actual, threatened or perceived release of hazardous substances at the real property that is the subject of the brownfield certification.
“Brownfield Certified Brownfields Developer” means any person as defined in 7 Del.C. §§9123(1).
“Certified Brownfields Development Agreement” means an agreement between the Secretary and a Brownfields Developer with respect to a certified brownfield that sets forth a scope and schedule of activities to assess and respond to the actual, threatened, or perceived release of hazardous substances at the facility Certified Brownfield.
“Certified Brownfields Investigation” means an evaluation under the Brownfields Development Program which includes the assessment of an actual, threatened, or perceived release of a hazardous substance at a facility within the Certified Brownfield to determine the nature, extent, and impact of the actual, threatened, or perceived release, and the evaluation of the feasibility of the proposed development plan to serve as all or a portion of the remedial action. When directed by the Department the Certified Brownfields Investigation shall include an evaluation to establish if the release has migrated off the Certified Brownfield.
“Conditional No Further Action” means that based on the information available following an initial investigation or a facility evaluation or equivalent, the Department determines that: (a) there has been no release or there is no imminent threat of release; (b) a release has occurred which does not pose a threat to public health or welfare or the environment above the acceptable site specific risk under current conditions; or (c) action by another authority is appropriate. The Conditional No Further Action (CNFA) Determination lists all the conditions that have to be met in order to maintain the CNFA Determination under current and future land use scenarios and should be placed in the property record.
“Consultant” means a contractor who is hired to provide professional services for remedies with regard to a facility or Certified Brownfield.
“Contaminant of concern” means a hazardous substance identified during a remedy, which exceeds the HSCA screening level and contributes to the unacceptable site specific risk.
“Contaminant of Potential Concern” means a hazardous substance identified during a remedy where the concentration exceeds the HSCA screening levels.
“Facility” means any building, structure, installation, equipment, pipe or pipeline (including any pipe into a sewer or publicly owned treatment works), well, pit, pond, lagoon, impoundment, ditch, landfill, storage container, motor vehicle, rolling stock, vessel, aircraft or any site or area where a hazardous substance has been generated, manufactured, refined, transported, stored, treated, handled, recycled, disposed of, released, placed or otherwise come to be located. Where there is or has been a release or threat of release on real property, a portion of the real property may be considered a facility for the purpose of performing a remedy. A facility also includes all properties real property where hazardous substances may have migrated to or come to be located since being released.
“Facility Evaluation” means an investigation to identify a release of a hazardous substance and generate data to perform an initial screening and make a decision regarding future action at the a facility or Certified Brownfield.
“Final Plan of Remedial Action” means the Department’s written determination of the appropriate remedial action under the Act at a facility or Certified Brownfield for the current or anticipated land use to protect public health, welfare and the environment.
“Hazardous substance” means: (a) any hazardous waste as defined in 7 Del.C. Ch. 63 or any hazardous waste designated by regulation promulgated pursuant to 7 Del.C. Ch. 63; (b) any hazardous substance as defined in CERCLA or regulations promulgated pursuant thereto; (c) any substance determined by the Secretary through regulation to present a risk to the public health or welfare or the environment if released into the environment; (d) any substance included in the HSCA screening level table that will be updated semiannually; or (e) petroleum, including crude oil or any fraction thereof; however any release of hazardous substances from a storage tank which is regulated by 7 Del.C. Ch. 74 or 7 Del.C. Ch. 74A or regulations promulgated pursuant thereto is not subject to these Regulations except as provided for in Section 1.2. Notwithstanding the Department’s determination under Section 1.2 of these Regulations, any release of petroleum, including crude oil or any fraction thereof, is eligible for funding under the Act.
“HSCA Screening levels” means the concentrations of hazardous substances in the environment that are (a) the background levels established by the Department, or ten times lower than the cleanup levels (b) risk-based levels associated with a target cancer risk of 1E-06 or a target hazard quotient of 0.1 in an unrestricted use exposure scenario, or (c) other regulatory levels adopted under the Act.
“Initial screening” means the process of comparison of the maximum observed concentrations of analytes found in environmental samples to background levels and performance of a preliminary risk assessment based on the maximum observed representative concentrations found in each environmental medium from the results of a facility evaluation or equivalent investigation to determine whether a release poses a threat to human health, welfare or the environment above the acceptable site specific risk.
“Land Disturbing Activity” means activities that physically take place on the facility or Certified Brownfield and include digging, drilling, excavating, grading, clearing, earth moving, filling, or performing any subsurface work, but excludes all environmental investigation, planning, designing, or engineering work related to the facility, as well as any physical activity performed off the facility or Certified Brownfield in preparation for, or related to, construction and development activities that will occur on the facility or Certified Brownfield.
“Maximum Contaminant Level” or “MCL” means the maximum permissible level of a contaminant in water which is delivered to any user of a public water system, as defined by the EPA under the Safe Drinking Water Act, 42 U.S.C. Sec 300(f), et seq., as amended, and/or the State of Delaware under 16 DE Admin. Code 4462.
“Proposed Plan of Remedial Action” means a written plan, issued by the Department for public comment, describing the appropriate remedial action under the Act at a facility or Certified Brownfield for the current or anticipated land use to protect public health or welfare or the environment.
“Remedial Investigation” means an evaluation of a release or imminent threat of release of a hazardous substance at a facility or Certified Brownfield to determine the nature, extent, and impact of the release and the collection of data necessary to conduct a feasibility study of remedial alternatives.
“Remedy” means any action, response or expenditure consistent with the purposes of the Act, or any regulations or guidance developed pursuant thereto to identify, minimize or eliminate any imminent threat posed by any hazardous substances to public health or welfare or the environment including preparation of any plans, conducting of any studies and any investigative, oversight of remedy or monitoring activities with respect to any release or imminent threat of release of a hazardous substance and any health assessments, risk assessments, health effect studies or natural resource damage assessments conducted in order to determine the risk or potential risk to public health or welfare or the environment.
19 DE Reg. 65 (07/01/15)
3.1.1	An owner or operator of a facility who has knowledge of a release of a hazardous substance at concentrations at or above the reporting levels must notify the SIRS in writing of the release prior to undertaking land disturbing activities in any area potentially affected by the release.
3.1.3	If a Brownfield Certified Brownfields Developer, prospective purchaser, or a person acting on behalf of the Brownfield Certified Brownfields Developer, the prospective purchaser, or the owner or operator reports a release to the SIRS in compliance with Subsections 3.1.1 and 3.1.2, this notification requirement will be satisfied.
3.2.1.2	Reports to or from, or investigations by, local, state and federal government agencies including the Delaware Department of Health and Social Services, Delaware Department of Transportation, Delaware Emergency Management Agency, State Police or other law enforcement agencies, State Fire Marshal’s Office or any Fire Department, United States Environmental Protection Agency, Department of Defense or other Federal agencies.
3.2.1.3	Reports to the Department from real estate transaction-related environmental assessments as part of all appropriate inquiry (AAI) or AAI requirements.
3.4.1	In order to qualify for the Brownfields Development Program, the property must be certified as a Brownfield. To receive a Brownfields Certification, the Brownfield applicant shall submit a Brownfields Certification Application to the Department seeking Brownfield Certification for the property. The property certification request can be initiated by a Brownfield Certified Brownfields Developer, the current property owner, the Department, or any public agency.
3.4.2.1.5	Reason to believe that the property may be contaminated and why such contamination may hinder development or the expansion, redevelopment, or reuse.
3.4.2.2.2	The factual basis for concluding that the expansion, redevelopment or reuse of the property is abandoned, vacant or underutilized; may be hindered by the reasonable belief that the real property is environmentally contaminated.
3.4.2.2.4	Certification that the Brownfield Certified Brownfields Developer will comply with all applicable procedural requirements.
3.4.2.3	All items contained in the application shall be addressed by either providing the required information or stating that the item is not applicable. In the event that an item is considered not applicable, the Brownfield Certified Brownfields Developer must include a written justification in the application that demonstrates to the satisfaction of the Department that the item is not applicable to the application.
3.4.3.1	The Department may certify all or part of a parcel of real property as a Certified Brownfield if the property meets the following criteria:
3.4.3.1.1	All or part of the property is abandoned, vacant, or underutilized; The expansion, redevelopment or reuse of all or part of the property is hindered by the reasonably held belief that the real property may be environmentally contaminated; and
3.4.3.1.3.1	The development or expansion, redevelopment or reuse of the property may be hindered by the reasonably held belief that it may be environmentally contaminated; or
3.4.3.1.3.2.6	A permitted or non-permitted landfill or dump;
3.4.3.1.3.2.7	The land A property that contains potentially contaminated material;
3.4.3.1.3.2.8	A known hazardous substance release site that has not been remediated to the standard applicable to the intended land use, including those facilities previously identified by the Department; or
3.4.3.1.3.2.9	A National Priorities List (NPL) or Federal CERCLIS site that has a “No Further Interest” designation from the US EPA.
3.4.3.2	Sites which are A property that is subject to an enforcement action from any State or Federal environmental agency, and for which an administrative or judicial order is in effect or is proposed, may not be eligible for Brownfield Certification, unless the enforcement action is resolved to the satisfaction of the Secretary.
3.4.3.3	A Certified Brownfields Developer shall be required, at a minimum, to perform a FE facility evaluation of the facility Certified Brownfield, as approved by DNREC, within 24 twenty-four (24) months of entering into a BDA.
3.4.3.4	Any Brownfield Certification decision is made at the sole discretion of the Secretary.
3.4.3.5	An inventory of Certified Brownfield sites properties will be made publicly available.
3.4.4.1	In order for a person to obtain the rights and protections and assume the obligations of the status of Certified Brownfields Developer, the person must submit an application to the Department for approval of Certified Brownfields Developer status. At the time of application for the Certified Brownfields Development Agreement, an applicant cannot be a potentially responsible party at the facility property pursuant to 7 Del.C. §9105(a)(1)-(6), and is not cannot be affiliated with any other person that is liable for a release or imminent threat of release at the facility pursuant to 7 Del.C. §9105(c)(4)5 property. The existence of an affiliation will be determined pursuant to the provisions of 7 Del.C. §9105(c)(4)b.5.
3.4.4.2	The Secretary has the discretion to deny Certified Brownfields Developer status to an applicant if the applicant, including any employees or agents thereof, or any entity affiliated with or controlled by the applicant, has been determined to have violated any federal, state, or local environmental law.
5.0	Settlement Agreements & Certified Brownfields Development Agreements
5.1	Settlement agreements and Certified Brownfields Development Agreements shall include the following:
5.1.1	The name and address of the potentially responsible party, the prospective purchaser, or the Brownfield Certified Brownfields Developer, and any other affiliated corporation, entity, or other person that will perform or pay for a remedy at the facility or Certified Brownfield;
5.1.2	The address and tax parcel number of the facility or Certified Brownfield in question;
5.1.3	The name of the current owner of record and/or operator of the facility or Certified Brownfield; and
5.1.4	For agreements which require the performance of a remedy at a facility or Certified Brownfield, the Department may include a description of:
5.1.4.1	The areas of the facility or Certified Brownfield where the remedy is to be conducted;
5.2.1.2	Recoverable costs from a Brownfield developer Certified Brownfields Developer include remedial costs incurred by the Department beginning upon its receipt of the application for Brownfield certification of the site into the brownfield program property, including oversight, indirect and administrative costs, and costs associated with long-term stewardship activities as specified in the brownfields development agreement Certified Brownfields Development Agreement, but excluding natural resource damage assessment and restoration costs not caused by the Brownfield developer Certified Brownfields Developer and costs incurred by the Department prior to the Brownfield developer’s Certified Brownfields Developer’s submission of its application for admission into the brownfield program Brownfields Development Program.
5.2.2	Remedial costs with regard to a specific facility or Certified Brownfield are calculated to reflect the actual costs incurred by the Department. Such costs are calculated for each facility or Certified Brownfield as set forth below.
5.2.2.1	The total number of direct hours expended by each employee of the Department with regard to a specific facility or Certified Brownfield is multiplied by the employee's hourly rate of wages and then the figures derived for each employee are added together.
5.2.2.3	The figure derived from Subsection 5.2.2.2 is added to a figure derived by multiplying the number of hours worked by each employee of the Department with regard to the specific facility or Certified Brownfield by the other employee costs rate for the employee.
5.2.2.4	All payments made by the Department to its contractors, consultants or vendors for the procurement of services, supplies or equipment for the specific facility or Certified Brownfield are added to the figure derived from Subsection 5.2.2.3.
6.1.1	Investigative and remedial action work including facility evaluations, site inspections, remedial investigations, Certified Brownfields investigations, human health risk assessment, feasibility studies, oversight, and long-term stewardship.
7.1	Analytical procedures must be conducted in accordance with all applicable provisions of the Standard Operating Procedures for Chemical Analytical Programs (SOPCAP) under the Hazardous Substance Cleanup Act, as amended by the Department. Other analytical methods, including screening, not addressed under the SOPCAP, which may be necessary to perform the remedy, must be approved by the Department.
9.1.4	Based on the information obtained about the facility during the initial investigation, the Department may:
9.1.4.4	Take any other action, or no action, as determined by the Department to be appropriate; or.
9.3.3	The initial screening shall identify the maximum observed concentrations of analytes found in environmental samples and utilize representative data from each environmental media to perform a preliminary risk assessment. The sample locations shall be in areas of the facility where the highest levels of contamination are likely to exist.
9.5.1	The Brownfield investigation, which is applicable to certified Brownfield sites Certified Brownfields, shall meet the requirements of the RI remedial investigation as specified in Section 9.4.
12.3.1	The Department may require or permit an interim action at a facility or Certified Brownfield prior to issuing the Proposed Plan of Remedial Action for the facility or Certified Brownfield where the Department determines that it is consistent with or will not interfere with potential or final remedial actions.
12.3.3	For any facility or Certified Brownfield at which an interim action has occurred, the Proposed Plan of Remedial Action shall include a description of the interim action and a determination of whether additional remedial action is needed to meet the remedial action objectives.
12.3.4	The Department may adopt an interim action as all or part of the chosen final remedial action for a facility or Certified Brownfield if it determines the interim action is protective of public health or welfare or the environment.
12.4.2	The Department, or any person who has entered into an agreement with the Department concerning a facility or Certified Brownfield, shall propose one or more remedial alternatives for the facility which meet the criteria in 12.4.4.
12.4.3	The Department will evaluate and select the proposed remedial alternatives for the facility or Certified Brownfield according to the threshold and balancing criteria.
12.5.1	The Department shall issue a Proposed Plan of Remedial Action describing the proposed remedial action prior to implementation of the remedial action for a facility or Certified Brownfield. When the Department requires or approves an interim action as described in Section 12.3 of these Regulations, the Department may issue a Proposed Plan of Remedial Action after the implementation of the interim action.
12.7.1	No person shall implement a remedial action at a facility or Certified Brownfield without concurrent oversight from the Department.
12.8.1.2	A facility or Certified Brownfield which is the subject of an application for entry into the Voluntary Cleanup Program or the Brownfields Development Program;
12.8.1.3	A facility or Certified Brownfield undergoing an interim action;
12.8.1.4	A facility or Certified Brownfield undergoing a remedial investigation or remedial action;
12.8.1.5	A facility or Certified Brownfield for which an order has been issued pursuant to 7 Del.C. §9106(b) or 7 Del.C. §9109(b); or
12.8.1.6	A facility or Certified Brownfield that has restrictions required by the Final Plan of Remedial Action.
12.8.2	No person shall perform any work or construction activities that may interfere with the remedial action at the facility or Certified Brownfield, unless authorized by the Department as part of the remedial action, without doing all of the following:
12.8.2.2	Providing copies of all plans and a description of the planned work or construction activities to be performed at the facility or Certified Brownfield;
12.8.2.4	Obtaining the Department’s prior written approval for any work or construction activities to be performed at the facility or Certified Brownfield.
12.8.4	This subsection shall not apply to any work or construction activities performed in at a facility or Certified Brownfield or areas of a facility or Certified Brownfield where any drilling, digging or excavation is carried out to collect samples in accordance with any appropriate plan approved by the Department.
13.2.1	All facilities or Certified Brownfield addressed under 7 Del.C. Ch. 91 will be eligible for facility closure. A facility or Certified Brownfield is eligible for closure when the Department determines that all requirements of the Final Plan of Remedial Action have been completed and no restrictions remain on the facility or Certified Brownfield. The Department may require additional remedial activities at the facility or Certified Brownfield after it has achieved closure if circumstances change or if any new information becomes available which shows that the completed remedial action is no longer protective of public health or welfare or the environment.
13.2.2	Facility or Certified Brownfield closure is achieved through the issuance of a facility closure determination by the Department under the following conditions:
13.2.2.1	The Final Plan of Remedial Action requires no remedial activities at the facility or Certified Brownfield;
13.2.2.2	A Certification of Completion of Remedy is issued or amended by the Department and the Department determines that the remedial action, as described in the Final Plan of Remedial Action, is completed and no restrictions remain on the facility or Certified Brownfield; or
13.2.2.3	Based on the information obtained about a facility or Certified Brownfield during an initial investigation or facility evaluation, the Department determined that no action is necessary.
14.1.3	A brownfield developer Certified Brownfields Developer that does not cause or contribute to a release related to the site Certified Brownfield is not liable for natural resource damage assessment and restoration costs related to the release at the site brownfield property, and such brownfield developer Certified Brownfields Developer shall not be subject to or limited by any other provision of these Regulations relating solely to natural resource damages.
5 DE Reg. 1618 (02/01/02)
22 DE Reg. 448 (12/01/18) (Prop.)