Category Archives: Vapor Intrusion
The Beginning of the End for AULs?
In Springfield earlier this week we had a well attended and interesting breakfast seminar on the recent developments in vapor intrusion (VI). One topic that received a lot of discussion was the expanded use of Activity and Use Limitations (AULs) … Continue reading
PCE Toxicity: Will MassDEP Change its Position?
It was six years ago that growing concern about vapor intrusion collided with MassDEP’s conservative analysis of PCE toxicity (aka: perchloroethylene, perc and tetrachloroethylene) to produce a perfect storm in the Massachusetts waste site cleanup program. State environmental regulators initiated … Continue reading
PCE Toxicity: EPA versus MassDEP and Implications for VI
For over 20 years, MassDEP and the USEPA have disagreed about the toxicity of tetrachloroethene (aka tetrachloroethylene, perc, PCE and perchloroethylene). Disagreements between the agencies on something this basic are rare and given the practical implications (there are many), it’s … Continue reading
How EPA’s New Take on PCE Changes Vapor Intrusion Risk
Several days ago the US Environmental Protection Agency issued its new findings on the toxicity of tetrachloroethene (also known as: PCE, perc, perchloroethylene and tetrachloroethylene). The new information was published on-line in EPA’s Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS) web site. … Continue reading
Vapor Intrusion: The Roach Motel of Environmental Regulations
At last month’s University of Massachusetts Soils Conference, I attended an early afternoon panel discussion on vapor intrusion (VI). While this might normally be a sleepy time of day, the conversational banter among the panelists kept the audience awake and … Continue reading
Vapor Intrusion – Historic Perspectives, Current Considerations
As we all know, one of the hottest topics in the environmental industry right now is vapor intrusion. In Massachusetts, vapor intrusion considerations have been around for more than 20 years, since the beginning of the Massachusetts Contingency Plan (MCP) … Continue reading
Vapor Intrusion – MassDEP Strikes Back?
When the “new” Massachusetts Contingency Plan was published in 1993, the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection (MassDEP) was leading the nation with cleanup standards designed to protect against vapor intrusion (VI). Since that time other states and the federal government … Continue reading
