Volume 20 | Issue 5                                                                                                             November 2014
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Table of Contents
Notice
The LSPA newsletter is written and distributed to LSPA members as a benefit of membership.  LSPA members may share newsletter articles, in whole or in part, with others, provided, however, that the member properly attributes the source of the article or portion of article.  Proper attribution in this context includes the title of the article, the author's name and affiliation, and the identification of the LSPA newsletter as the original source.

We hope you like the LSPA's newly designed newsletter.  To read past the article headlines, you will need to click on "Read More" and then sign into the LSPA website. Please let us know if you encounter any difficulty.  

President's Message
By: Paul McKinlay, LSP, President, LSPA

As seems to be the case each year, the LSPA's 2014-2015 agenda has become full very quickly and I'm constantly reminded of how dynamic our line of work can be at times.   There are many challenges and changes presented by changes to the state and local regulations and policies under which we work; some of the most pressing are noted below.

Local Regulation of Moderately Contaminated Soils - Town of Dartmouth
By: Jeanine Grachuk, Esq.; Beveridge & Diamond, P.C.; and Loss Prevention Committee Member

When doing any project, consider whether local Board of Health, Planning Board, Wetlands or other municipal ordinances, bylaws, or regulations could limit or restrict your planned work.  Local rules may impact site cleanup by requiring an additional permit or approval or by imposing stricter requirements.  An unusual case-in-point is a set of regulations adopted by the Town of Dartmouth Board of Health in April 2014 which will have the effect of prohibiting certain types of remediation at properties in Dartmouth, if it withstands judicial scrutiny.  At least one LSP has received an Order to Cease and Desist prohibiting transport of such soils from a property located in Dartmouth being remediated under state cleanup law, bringing the remediation to a halt.  

2014 Annual Dinner Meeting
By: Wendy Rundle, LSPA Executive Director 

The LSPA held its 21st annual dinner meeting on October 9, 2014, at the Westford Regency Inn & Conference Center in Westford, MA.  The evening was attended by over 275 LSPA members, friends, supporters, and clients.  (See photos from the evening here) During the socializing and networking time, there were several activities that kept people occupied including the silent auction to benefit the LSPA Scholarship Fund; the opportunity to purchase the book "Trapped Under the Sea" written by our guest speaker; and the lure of 50/50 raffle tickets.

Summary of Observations of FY 2013 NOAFs Addressing Vapor Intrusion
By: Allen Wyman, LSP, Permanent Environmental Solutions, LLC, and Loss Prevention Committee Chair

The Loss Prevention Committee (LPC) identified 29 MassDEP Audits for FY 2013 in which one or more vapor intrusion violations were noted.  Given the timing of MassDEP guidance and the LPC's desire that information be timely, Notices of Audit Findings (NOAFs) relative to Opinions completed prior to 2005 were disregarded.  Further, NOAFs resulting from Level II Audits were disregarded.  Level II Audits are often field inspections of active remedial/mitigation systems and/or compliance with AUL obligations and do not focus on the technical adequacies of the Opinion.  Given these specifications, the LPC reviewed 15 Audits of completed Opinions.  Key issues from these NOAFs are noted below along with considerations for minimizing audit risks. 

Top Takeaways: October 23, 2014 MassDEP Waste Site Cleanup Advisory Committee Meeting
By: Matt Young, Senior Project Manager Environmental Affairs, Cumberland Gulf Group of Companies, and Dave Leone, LSP, Senior Project Manager, GZA GeoEnvironmental, Inc., LSPA Regulations Committee Co-Chairs

Representatives from the Regulations Committee of the LSPA were in attendance at the October 23, 2014 MassDEP Waste Site Cleanup Advisory Committee Meeting.  Provided below are the top takeaways from that meeting. 

Profile of Farooq Siddique, PE, LSP, Board Member, LSP Board of Registration
By: Katherine Robertson, Robertson Associates, and the LSPA's Media Consultant
This is the fourth in a series of articles profiling current members of the LSP Board of Registration.   

Farooq Siddique arrived in Boston in early January 1987, in the middle of a snowstorm. It was the first snow that the 27-year-old structural engineer from Bangladesh had ever seen. He stayed anyway.

Siddique, a 2011 appointee to the LSP Board, came to the United States to study computer modeling at Northeastern University. There was, however, a small glitch in  his plan.  As it turned out, the civil engineering program which had brought him halfway around the world did not have a modeling unit, so he structured his course in  environmental  studies and took all his electives in mathematics. The university's transportation engineering department, which needed his programming skills, offered  him a graduate research  assistantship and financial support.  "I got my funding from Transportation, most of the courses were statistics and math-related, the program  was environmental, and my  Master's degree was in civil engineering," he says.

New "Good Samaritan" Law Protects LSPs
By:Wendy Rundle, LSPA Executive Director 
 
Starting on January 1, 2015, LSPs will have liability protection when they provide voluntary services to emergency and public safety agencies during a natural catastrophe or disaster, at the request of or with the approval of an appropriate federal, state or local official. 

This new "Good Samaritan" law was approved by the Massachusetts legislature and signed by the Governor in early August 2014.  The LSPA participated in the coalition effort, spearheaded by Abbie Goodman at the Massachusetts Chapter of ACEC.  Read the law here.


Lessons Learned from 2013 Audits of Remedial Systems 
By: The LSPA's Loss Prevention Committee

Continuing our review of Notices of Audit Findings (NOAFs), the Loss Prevention Committee (LPC) reviewed those NOAFs related to remedial systems. In most cases, MassDEP conducted a Level 2 audit, which involves a review of relevant reports and a site visit. During many of these audits, MassDEP identified issues beyond the remedial systems themselves. In some cases, MassDEP included helpful advice on these other issues in the NOAF, and in other cases MassDEP issued Notices of Noncompliance (NONs). The LPC also noticed that in several cases where deficiencies were identified and corrected within six weeks, an NON was not issued and no further action was required. We also noticed that specific auditors appeared to focus on remedial system audits.

Remedial Additives
By: Lisa Alexander, BWSC Audits & Enforcement Coordinator, MassDEP

(The LSP Association does not edit any articles submitted on behalf of any government agency or the LSP Board, other than for formatting purposes.)


 

As LSPs know by now, a revised version of the Massachusetts Contingency Plan was released in April 2014, necessitating updates of our forms and some procedures. One area which we want to emphasize at this time is remedial additives and a very important checkbox. This is the checkbox to indicate that any proposed remedial additives will be used in a "sensitive area" relative to ecological or human health.
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Note: The LSPA newsletter is written and distributed to LSPA members as a benefit of membership. LSPA members may share newsletter articles, in whole or in part, with others, provided, however, that the member properly attributes the source of the article or portion of article. Proper attribution in this context includes the title of the article, the author's name and affiliation, and the identification of the LSPA newsletter as the original source.

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