§ 290.305. Abatement plan.
(a) The person that is required to conduct water quality monitoring as part of coal ash beneficial use or storage shall prepare and submit to the Department an abatement plan whenever one of the following occurs:
(1) The assessment plan prepared and implemented under § 290.304 (relating to assessment plan) shows the presence of groundwater or surface water degradation for one or more contaminants at one or more monitoring points and the analysis indicates that an abatement standard will not be met at the compliance points.
(2) Monitoring by the Department or person shows the presence of an abatement standard exceedance from one or more compliance points even if an assessment plan has not been completed. The person is not required to implement an abatement plan under this paragraph if the following apply:
(i) Within 10 days after receipt of sample results showing an exceedance of an abatement standard at a point of compliance, the person resamples the affected monitoring points.
(ii) Analysis from resampling shows to the Department’s satisfaction that an exceedance of an abatement standard has not occurred.
(3) A biological assessment of surface water implemented under § 290.304(c)(4) shows a detrimental effect on biota is occurring.
(b) An abatement plan shall be prepared and sealed by a professional geologist licensed to practice in this Commonwealth. The plan must contain the following information:
(1) The specific methods or techniques to be used to abate groundwater or surface water degradation at the facility.
(2) The specific methods or techniques to be used to prevent further groundwater or surface water degradation from the facility.
(3) A schedule for implementation.
(c) If abatement is required in accordance with subsection (a), the person shall demonstrate compliance with one or more of the following standards at the identified compliance points:
(1) For constituents for which Statewide health standards exist, the Statewide health standard for that constituent at and beyond 500 feet of the perimeter of the coal ash placement area or at and beyond the property boundary, whichever is closer.
(2) The background standard for constituents at and beyond 500 feet of the perimeter of the coal ash placement area or at and beyond the property boundary, whichever is closer. Load-based standards at groundwater discharge points are acceptable if a permit was issued under Chapter 87, Subchapter F or Chapter 88, Subchapter G (relating to surface coal mines: minimum requirements for remining areas with pollutional discharges; and anthracite surface mining activities and anthracite bank removal and reclamation activities: minimum requirements for remining areas with pollutional discharges).
(3) For constituents for which no primary MCLs under the Federal and State Safe Drinking Water Acts (42 U.S.C.A. § § 300f—300j-18; and 35 P. S. § § 721.1—721.17) exist, the risk-based standard at and beyond 500 feet of the perimeter of the coal ash placement area or at and beyond the property boundary, whichever is closer, if the following conditions are met:
(i) The risk assessment used to establish the standard assumes that human receptors exist at the property boundary.
(ii) The level is derived in a manner consistent with the health risk assessment portions of the Department’s Land Recycling Program Technical Guidance Manual (253-0300-100) or other standard procedures commonly used in the environmental field for assessing the health risks of environmental pollutants.
(iii) The level is based on scientifically valid studies conducted in accordance with good laboratory practice standards (40 CFR Part 792 (relating to good laboratory practice standards)) promulgated under the Toxic Substances Control Act (15 U.S.C.A. § § 2601—2692) or other scientifically valid studies approved by the Department.
(iv) For carcinogens, the level represents a concentration associated with an excess lifetime cancer risk level of 1 x 10-5 at the property boundary.
(d) For measuring compliance with secondary contaminants under subsection (c)(1) or (3), the Department may approve a compliance point beyond 500 feet on land owned by the owner of the coal ash placement area.
(e) The abatement plan shall be completed and submitted to the Department for approval within 90 days of the time the obligation arises under this section unless the date is otherwise modified, in writing, by the Department.
(f) If the Department determines that the proposed plan is inadequate, the Department may modify the plan and approve the plan as modified or require the submission of an approvable modification.
(g) The abatement plan shall be implemented within 60 days of approval by the Department in accordance with the approved implementation schedule.
(h) If, after plan approval or implementation, the Department finds that the plan is incapable of achieving the groundwater or surface water protection contemplated in the approval, the Department may issue one or more of the following:
(1) An order requiring the person to submit proposed modifications to the abatement plan.
(2) An order requiring the person to implement the abatement plan as modified by the Department.
(3) Another order the Department deems necessary to aid in the enforcement of the acts.
Cross References This section cited in 25 Pa. Code § 290.301 (relating to water quality monitoring); and 25 Pa. Code § 290.304 (relating to assessment plan).
No part of the information on this site may be reproduced for profit or sold for profit.
This material has been drawn directly from the official Pennsylvania Code full text database. Due to the limitations of HTML or differences in display capabilities of different browsers, this version may differ slightly from the official printed version.
