NYSDEC Releases CP-51 Policy Revisions; Public Comments Accepted Until September 26

6 NYCRR Part 375 and Soil Cleanup Objectives

The 6 NYCRR Part 375 regulations, titled “Environmental Remediation Programs,” are administered by the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) Division of Environmental Remediation (DER) as the state’s general remedial program requirements. Part 375 contains tables 375-6.8(a) and 375-6.8(b), which establish the Soil Cleanup Objectives (SCOs) for a finite list of known contaminants for both unrestricted site use and a variety of restricted uses, respectively.

Unrestricted use SCOs are the lowest contaminant concentration objectives applied when determining if site conditions are appropriate for any type of use. Restricted use SCOs provide concentration objectives which are less stringent and allow for less intensive remediation tracks when site conditions and uses are restricted and managed appropriately. Restricted use SCOs fall under the categories of Residential, Restricted-Residential, Commercial, Industrial, Protection of Ecological Resources, and Protection of Groundwater to guide property owners and environmental regulatory agencies to find the right track to remediation.

CP-51 and Supplementary SCOs

DEC’s Soil Cleanup Guidance Policy CP-51, originally issued in 2010, is a companion to the Part 375 regulations that provides Supplementary SCOs (SSCOs, tabulated in Table 1 of CP-51) to account for any contaminants (for instance, new pesticides and volatile compounds) or scenarios (for instance, SCOs for gasoline contaminated soil and fuel oil contaminated soil) that are not explicitly included in Part 375 or the Brownfield Cleanup Program (BCP) requirements.

DEC has recently proposed revisions to the CP-51 policy and is holding a public comment period until September 26, 2024. According to the proposed update released by DEC, some of the revisions include, but are not limited to:

• Tabulating SSCO values for perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) and perfluorooctane sulfonic acid (PFOS)
• Adding an appendix for ecological resource and protection of groundwater
• Updating existing SSCO values from Table 1 (particularly the data in the “Residential” column, which DEC has determined is based on outdated criteria)

The DEC is accepting public comments through both traditional mail and email (derweb@dec.ny.gov) to receive feedback on their current revisions and crowdsource new ideas for CP-51. As CP-51 pertains to site remediation, it is integral that this policy is updated to promote environmental wellbeing and public health, and also to provide property owners with the most convenient and cost-effective track toward remediation.

Walden’s site investigation and remediation specialists will continue to track developments related to the CP-51 revisions and other guidance related to soil contamination. Contact us today at 516-559-6976 if you’d like to discuss how soil cleanup requirements impact your site.