Oregon Administrative Rules › Chapter 340 - DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY › Division 122 - HAZARDOUS SUBSTANCE REMEDIAL ACTION RULES › Section 340-122-0072 - Preliminary Assessments

Current through Register Vol. 63, No. 7, July 1, 2024
(1) The
			 Department shall conduct a preliminary assessment or approve a preliminary
			 assessment conducted by another person in accordance with section (4) of this
			 rule if the Department determines that a release of a hazardous substance poses
			 a significant threat to public health, safety or welfare, or the environment.
			 The Department may conduct or approve a preliminary assessment without such
			 determination. The Department may determine that existing information
			 constitutes the equivalent of all or part of a preliminary
			 assessment.
(2) Prior to conducting
			 a preliminary assessment, the Director shall notify the owner and operator of
			 the facility, if known, of the Department's intent to conduct the assessment,
			 and allow the owner or operator to submit relevant information to the
			 Department or to request to conduct the preliminary assessment. The Department
			 may accept or deny any such request.
(3) The purpose of a preliminary assessment
			 is to develop sufficient information to determine whether additional
			 investigation, removal, remedial action, or long-term engineering or
			 institutional controls related to removal or remedial action are needed at a
			 facility to assure protection of present and future public health, safety and
			 welfare, and the environment.
(4) A
			 preliminary assessment shall include sufficient onsite observations, maps,
			 facility data, sampling, and other information to accomplish the purposes of a
			 preliminary assessment as described in section (3) of this rule including, as
			 appropriate:
(a) Description of historical
			 operations at the facility, including past and present generation, management,
			 and use of hazardous substances; compliance with relevant environmental
			 requirements; and investigations or cleanups of releases of hazardous
			 substances;
(b) Identification and
			 characterization of hazardous substances that are being or might have been
			 released and, if available, an estimate of the quantities released, the
			 concentrations in the environment, and extent of migration;
(c) Documentation of releases of hazardous
			 substances to the environment;
(d)
			 Identification of present and past owners and operators of the
			 facility;
(e) Description of the
			 facility, including its name, and a site map identifying property boundaries,
			 the location of known or suspected releases of hazardous substances, and
			 significant topographic, terrestrial, and aquatic habitat features;
(f) Description of potential pathways for
			 migration of known or suspected releases of hazardous substances, including
			 surface water, groundwater, air, soils, and direct contact;
(g) Description of human and ecological
			 receptors potentially affected by releases of hazardous substances;
(h) Description of any other physical factors
			 that might be relevant to assessing short and long-term exposure to releases of
			 hazardous substances; and
(i)
			 Evaluation of present and reasonably likely future threats to public health,
			 safety and welfare, and the environment. During the preliminary assessment, the
			 Department may consider the following information:
(A) Concentrations of hazardous substances in
			 environmental media;
(B) The
			 documented presence, in the locality of the facility, of any of the following:
(i) Human populations;
(ii) Any sensitive human
			 subpopulations;
(ii) Threatened and
			 endangered species or their critical habitat;
(iv) Ecological receptors including any
			 terrestrial or aquatic habitat;
(v)
			 Exposure pathways potentially connecting receptors with released hazardous
			 substances;
(vi) Current and
			 reasonably likely future land uses; and
(vii) Current and reasonably likely future
			 beneficial uses of water.