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Regulatory Update

The Georgia Voluntary Remediation Program

History

On May 5, 2009, the Georgia Voluntary Remediation Program was signed into law to provide a fast-track method to voluntarily clean up contaminated sites in Georgia, including those sites already placed on the State of Georgia Hazardous Sites Inventory (HSI). At this point, the State of Georgia Environmental Protection Division is waiting until funding is provided from the State Legislature to develop and promulgate rules for this program.  The VRP incorporates the following features:

• Privatization of the Program

The VRP would allow responsible parties to submit an application to the GA EPD outlining a Voluntary Remediation Plan.  Following approval, the responsible party would then be allowed to implement the approved plan under the direction of a registered environmental professional (PG or PE).  After completion of the approved remediation plan, a Compliance Status Report would be submitted to the GA EPD for review.  This privatization would eliminate the lengthy regulatory agency review process and expedite the implementation and completion of remediation efforts.

• Use of Risk-Based Corrective Action Principals

Under the current HSRA, responsible parties can be required to meet strict and sometimes very rigid cleanup standards for soil and groundwater contamination.  The VRP would allow for the development of site-specific risk based corrective action levels for soil and/or groundwater remediation focusing on “actual” exposure pathways as opposed to theoretical scenarios.

• Clean-up Requirements

Currently, sites listed on the HSI for soil contamination can be subjected to stringent groundwater compliance standards, even in cases where an initial evaluation demonstrated that groundwater was not a risk to human health or the environment.  Under the proposed VRP, responsible parties will not be required to certify compliance under HSRA for groundwater where the HSI listing is based solely on soil impacts.