Restoration and Long Term Stewardship Unit

In recent years, there has been increasing interest in the "long term stewardship" of lands contaminated with hazardous substances. Long term stewardship activities are needed at sites where contamination remains at levels that preclude the unrestricted future use of the land or its affected waters (both surface water and ground water). Core elements of stewardship include the following:

• environmental use controls,
• site monitoring and maintenance,
• information management, and
• emergency response and financial assistance when remedies or controls fail.

The Restoration and Long Term Stewardship Unit is responsible for the Environmental Use Control Program, Long Term Monitoring and Analysis of sites, Presumptive Land Remedy Sites, and Bankruptcies.

Environmental Use Control Program

The Environmental Use Control Act became state law on July 1, 2003, with regulations becoming effective on April 7, 2006. Environmental Use Controls are more commonly known as institutional controls, which are legal controls intended to restrict or prohibit human activities and property use in such a way as to prevent or reduce exposures to contamination. Some examples of environmental use controls include: preventing disturbance of soil caps, covers, berms, etc.; prohibiting the drilling of water wells for domestic or other purposes; restricting and providing notification during utility excavation of an area; restricting use of a property for residential purposes; and restricting access to the property.

The Environmental Use Control Regulations have been amended to expand the program. Previously a contaminated property defined as a “hazardous waste facility” by K.S.A. 65-3430(f) was not eligible for participation in the EUC Program. KDHE has amended the definition of “eligible property” in K.A.R. 28-73-1(c) to remove the language which prevents these hazardous waste facilities from participating in the EUC Program. The new regulation went into effect January 30, 2009.

This amendment provides the owners of dozens of contaminated properties more flexibility in addressing the contamination, including expedited remediation of contaminated properties, less expense to the property owners, and increased protection of human health and the environment through the use of voluntary land use restrictions. KDHE anticipates that the amended regulation will have no adverse impact to the agency, other government agencies, or the regulated community.

KDHE announced the proposed regulation change in the October 2, 2008, Kansas Register. That action began a 60 day public comment period. KDHE received no written or oral comments from the public.

Long Term Monitoring and Analysis Program

Sites within the Long Term Monitoring and Analysis Program are revisited on a semi-annual, annual, or biannual basis in order to track changes in contaminant levels or quality. Some are sites to which a remedial action has already been applied, and long-term monitoring is used to determine how effective that action had been in reducing contamination and preserving human health and the environment. Other sites are lower priority sites that pose no immediate danger to human health and the environment, and long-term monitoring is used to check for increases or decreases in contaminant concentrations, to define the direction or size of a contaminant plume, and/or to monitor the natural attenuation of a contaminant.

Sites remain in the Long-Term Monitoring and Analysis Program until a site is determined to be no longer of concern, or is transferred to another program for more immediate action.

Presumptive Land Remedy Sites Program

The Presumptive Land Remedy Sites Program was initiated in order to apply lessons learned at contaminated sites to newly-identified sites that share similar characteristics. This is particularly useful when the Bureau launches an initiative to investigate former sites from a particular industrial sector, such as zinc smelters, former petroleum refineries, or manufactured gas plants.

These sites will typically share a history, contaminant profiles, and will respond to very similar remedial strategies. Applying the Bureau's previous experience from similar sites allows the appropriate corrective action to take place in an efficient and cost-effective manner.

Bankruptcies

Bankruptcies relate to environmental sites in which the responsible party has entered bankruptcy. In these cases, the Bureau must move quickly in order to ensure appropriate actions are taken within the timeframe specified by the bankruptcy process.