On Thursday October 27th, Andy Basehoar, P.G. attended the Pennsylvania Brownfields Conference at the Lancaster Convention Center in Lancaster, PA. The conference was developed by the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (PADEP) and the Engineers’ Society of Western Pennsylvania (ESWP). Several facets of brownfield redevelopment were covered during the sessions including Vapor Intrusion, Adaptive Reuse, Collaborative Partnerships and Green Infrastructure Projects.
Vapor Intrusion was a major hot button topic with the impending release of the new PADEP Vapor Intrusion (VI) Guidance. PADEP reported the new VI will be released on or around November 5, 2016. Following release of the new VI Guidance, a 60 day phase in period will be in effect. Following the phase in period, all reports submitted to PADEP will need to conform with the new VI Guidance.
The new VI Guidance will include the proximity distances for petroleum related compounds (i.e. benzene) to assess buildings within 30 feet from the impacted area versus non-petroleum compounds (i.e. chlorinated solvents) to assess buildings within 100 feet from the impacted area. PADEP set the VI screening values for soil to be equal to the generic soil to groundwater Media Specific Concentration (MSC). The VI screening values for groundwater to be equal to the groundwater MSC.