January 22, 2010 at 12:00 am

MEREDA hosts Breakfast Seminar entitled, “Changes in Contaminated Property Regulation in Maine: Just When you Had it All Figured Out”

CONFERENCE SPONSOR: St. Germain & Associates and Perkins Thompson

For the first time in over ten years, the Maine DEP is completely revising its cleanup guidelines for contaminated soil, commonly referred to as the Remedial Action Guidelines or RAGs.  While this process may sound like yet another obscure exercise by a state agency, it will affect the redevelopment of contaminated property in Maine.
 
The new RAGs are based on more sophisticated health-based risk models and expand the type of exposure scenarios to more accurately reflect common land uses. The new guidelines also provide for more flexibility by allowing site-specific health-based risk assessments.   Of particular interest will be the guidelines for petroleum, which is the most common type of contamination in Maine but has not had contaminant-specific cleanup guidelines until now. The guidelines also for the first time explicitly allow for the use of restrictive Environmental Covenants as part of the remedy in various cleanup scenarios, not just at sites that go through the Voluntary Response Action Program (VRAP).
 
While none of these guidelines will be in statute or regulation – they are simply guidelines – the regulated community is anticipating their widespread use by Department staff in determining appropriate approaches to both hazardous waste, other non-petroleum and petroleum sites. Are the guidelines flexible and therefore beneficial to those conducting cleanups, or detrimental because the cleanup goal may not always be easily predicted?  Come hear the experts give their views on this important new development in DEP policy. 
 
Join us on Thursday, February 25, 2010 from 7:30 – 9:00 AM at the Clarion Hotel, 1230 Congress Street, Portland, ME as our panelists discuss new developments in the Maine Department of Environmental Protection’s contaminated property regulation policies.    

Please RSVP before February 18, 2010.

Registration Fees:
MEREDA Member:  $40 | Non-Member:  $50
After February 18th:
MEREDA Member:  $50 | Non-Member:  $60

Please Note: Payment is expected at the time of registration. No refunds will be granted to anyone who registers, but fails to attend or who cancels after February 18, 2010. 

To register or for more information, please contact Shelly R. Clark at the MEREDA office at (207) 874- 0801 or via email at info@mereda.org.

Founded in 1985, MEREDA is an organization of commercial real estate owners, developers and related service providers, whose mission is to promote an environment for responsible development and ownership of real estate throughout the State of Maine.

Categories: Press Release