DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENT, GREAT LAKES, AND ENERGY

REMEDIATION AND REDEVELOPMENT DIVISION

ENVIRONMENTAL CONTAMINATION RESPONSE ACTIVITY

(By authority conferred on the director of the department of environment, Great Lakes,

and energy by sections 20104, and 20120a of the natural resources and environmental

protection act, 1994 PA 451, MCL 324.20104 and 324.20120a)

CLEANUP CRITERIA REQUIREMENTS FOR RESPONSE ACTIVITY

R 299.1 Definitions; A to I.

Rule 1. As used in this part:

(a) “Act” means 1994 PA 451, MCL 324.101 to 324.90106, known as the Natural

Resources and Environmental Protection Act.

(b) "Acute toxicity" means the ability of a hazardous substance to cause a debilitating or

injurious effect in an organism as a result of a single or short-term exposure.

(c) “Ambient air” means the atmosphere outside of buildings.

(d) “Applicable criterion” means a cleanup criterion for a relevant pathway. A criterion

is not an applicable criterion if the exposure pathway is not a relevant pathway at the

facility or if the exposure it addresses is reliably restricted by a restrictive covenant or

institutional control or other mechanism allowed for under part 201 of the act and these

rules.

(e) “Aquifer” means a geological formation, group of formations, or part of a formation

capable of yielding a significant amount of groundwater to wells or springs.

(f) "Best available information" means, when used in relation to a risk assessment or the

development of cleanup criteria, the most scientifically credible and relevant data

available about a particular hazardous substance. Such information may include, but is

not limited to, any of the following:

(i) The peer reviewed scientific literature.

(ii) Information sources recognized by the risk assessment community, such as the

integrated risk information system database maintained by the United States

environmental protection agency or other scientifically reliable databases.

(iii) Other scientific studies that are acceptable to the department.

(g) “Cancer slope factor” means a plausible upper-bound estimate of the probability of a

response per unit dose of a hazardous substance over a lifetime. The cancer slope factor

is used to estimate an upper bound probability of an individual developing cancer as a

result of a lifetime exposure to a particular level of a potential carcinogen.

(h) "Carcinogen" means a hazardous substance which, based on the weight of evidence,

causes an increased incidence of benign or malignant neoplasms in animals or humans or

that substantially decreases the time in which neoplasms develop in animals or humans.

(i) "Chronic toxicity" means the ability of a hazardous substance to cause an injurious or

debilitating effect in an organism that results from repeated exposure to the hazardous

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substance for a time period representing a substantial portion of the natural life

expectancy of the organism.

(j) “C_sat” means the concentration in soil at which the solubility limits of the soil pore

water, the vapor phase limits of the soil pore air, and the absorptive limits of the soil

particles have been reached. As used in these rules, C_satis a theoretical threshold above

which a free-phase liquid (non-aqueous phase liquid) hazardous substance may exist.

(k) “Direct contact” means exposure to hazardous substances through ingestion or

dermal contact.

(l) “Generic residential” means the cleanup criteria established by the department under

section 20120a(1)(a) of the act and these rules.

(m) “Groundwater” means water below the land surface in a zone of saturation.

(n) "Increased cancer risk of 1 in 100,000" means the 95% upper bound on the

calculated risk of 1 additional cancer above the background cancer rate per 100,000

individuals continuously exposed to a carcinogen at a given average daily dose for a 70-

year lifetime.

(o) “Inhalation unit risk factor” means the additional lifetime cancer risk occurring in a

population in which all individuals are exposed continuously for life to a concentration of

1 microgram per cubic meter of the hazardous substance in the air they breathe. The

inhalation unit risk factor shall be calculated under the provisions of part 55 of the act and

the rules promulgated under that part.

(p) “Initial threshold screening level” means a concentration in air of a toxic air

contaminant which is used to evaluate noncarcinogenic health effects and is calculated

under part 55 of the act and the rules promulgated under that part.

(q) “Institutional control” means a measure which is approved by the department, which

takes a form other than a restrictive covenant, and which limits or prohibits certain

activities that may interfere with the integrity or effectiveness of a remedial action or

result in exposure to hazardous substances at a facility, or which provides notice about

the presence of a hazardous substance at a facility in concentrations that exceed only an

aesthetic-based cleanup criterion.

(r) "Ionizing organic hazardous substance" means an organic hazardous substance that

has functional chemical groups that become ions when exposed to varying pH conditions.

History: 2013 AACS.

R 299.2 Definitions; L to V.

Rule 2. As used in this part:

(a) “Land or resource use restrictions” means the provisions of any of the following

measures that are used to limit or prohibit activities that may interfere with the integrity

or effectiveness of a response activity, or to limit or prohibit activities that may result in

exposure to hazardous substances at a facility, or to provide notice about the presence of

a hazardous substance at a facility in concentrations that exceed only an aesthetic-based

cleanup criterion:

(i) A restrictive covenant.

(ii) A notice of approved environmental remediation.

(iii) An institutional control, which may be a local ordinance or any form of

preapproved institutional control, such as a notice of aesthetic impact.

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(b) "Leachate" means liquid, including any suspended components in the liquid, that has

percolated through or drained from a hazardous substance or soil contaminated with a

hazardous substance.

(c) "Linearized multistage model" means a dose-response model which assumes that

there are a number of distinct biological stages or changes that must occur for a normal

cell to be transformed into a tumor and which assumes the dose-response relationship to

be linear at low doses.

(d) “Notice of aesthetic impact” means a document that describes conditions at a facility

that result from the presence of hazardous substances at concentrations which exceed

only cleanup criteria that are based on aesthetic impacts.

(e) "Reference dose" or "RfD" means a conservative estimate of the daily intake of the

human population, including sensitive subgroups, that is likely to be without appreciable

risk of deleterious effect during a lifetime. The reference dose is expressed in units of

milligrams per kilogram body weight per day.

(f) “Relative source contribution factor” or “RSC” means that portion of a person’s total

daily intake of a noncarcinogenic hazardous substance that comes from the medium being

addressed by the cleanup criterion.

(g) “Relevant pathway” means an exposure pathway that is reasonable and relevant

because there is a reasonable potential for exposure to a hazardous substance to occur to a

human or nonhuman receptor. The components of an exposure pathway are a source or

release of a hazardous substance, an exposure point, and, if the exposure point is not the

source or point of release, a transport medium. The existence of a municipal water

supply, exposure barrier, or other similar feature does not automatically make an

exposure pathway irrelevant.

(h) "Risk assessment" means the analytical process used to determine the risk to the

public health, safety, or welfare or to the environment associated with a release or threat

of release of a hazardous substance at a facility.

(i) "Secondary maximum contaminant level" means the United States environmental

protection agency's secondary maximum contaminant level for protection of the public

welfare for substances that may adversely affect the taste, odor, color, appearance, or any

aesthetic quality of drinking water, as set forth in 40 C.F.R. part 143 (revised as of July 1,

2012), which is adopted by reference in these rules and which is available for inspection

at the Lansing office of the department, 525 West Allegan Street, Lansing, Michigan.

Copies of the provisions may be purchased, at a cost as of the time of adoption of these

rules of $55.00, from the Superintendent of Documents, Government Printing Office,

Washington, DC 20401 (Stock Number 869-044-00152-7), or from the Department of

Environmental Quality, Remediation and Redevelopment Division, 525 West Allegan

Street, Lansing, Michigan 48933, at cost.

(j) "Toxicological interaction" means simultaneous exposure to 2 or more hazardous

substances which will produce a toxicological response that is greater or less than their

individual responses.

(k) "Weight of evidence," a term of art used in risk assessment, means an evaluation of

the relevant scientific data conducted to determine the likelihood that a hazardous

substance is a human carcinogen or causes noncancer adverse health effects, or both. The

evaluation may include any of the following information in addition to toxicological

bioassays:

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(i) Structure-activity relationships.

(ii) chemical-physical properties.

(iii) Short-term test findings.

(iv) Results of appropriate physiological, biological, and toxicological observations.

(v) Comparative metabolism and pharmacokinetic studies.

(l) “Volatile” means any compound that exhibits a Henry’s law constant equal to or

greater than 0.00001 atmosphere-cubic meter per mole at standard temperature and

pressure.

History: 2013 AACS.

R 299.3

Response activities; protection of public health, safety, welfare, and

environment required; rules applicable to interim response actions designed to

meet cleanup criteria; degree of cleanup; modification of cleanup category;

aquifers; unacceptability of response activity plan.

Rule 3. (1) All response activities shall be protective of the public health, safety, and

welfare and the environment. Applicable generic cleanup criteria established by the

department pursuant to section 20120a(1) and site specific cleanup criteria approved by

the department under section 20120a(2) and 20120b of the act and these rules reflect the

department’s judgment, at the time the criteria are established or approved by the

department, about the numerical criteria required to meet this protectiveness requirement,

subject to the provisions of R 299.4(3), R 299.28, and R 299.34(2).

(2) The rules in this part apply to interim response activities that are designed to meet

cleanup criteria. References in this part to response activity also include those interim

response activities.

(3) The category of land use-based remedial action under section 20120a(1) of the act or

the site-specific cleanup criteria identified under sections 20120a(2) and 20120b of the

act may be modified by the person proposing to conduct the response activity that will

result in modification during implementation or after completion of a remedial action, if

appropriate to the facility and if that modification is accomplished in a manner that is

consistent with the act and these rules.

(4) If a revised land use-based remedial action includes characteristics that are required

to be approved by the department, then the person implementing the change shall seek

department approval as required by part 201 of the act and these rules.

(5) The horizontal and vertical extent of hazardous substance concentrations in an

aquifer above the higher of either the concentration allowed by section 20120a(1)(a) or

(10) of the act, as applicable, shall not increase after the initiation of remedial actions to

address an aquifer, except as approved by the director as provided in section 20118(5)

and (6) of the act.

(6) All remedial actions that address the remediation of an aquifer shall provide for

removal of the hazardous substance or substances from the aquifer, either through active

remediation or as a result of naturally occurring biological or chemical processes which

can be documented to occur at the facility, except as provided in section 20118(5) and (6)

of the act.

History: 2013 AACS.

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R 299.4 General requirements for application of cleanup criteria.

Rule 4. (1) All cleanup criteria used in response activity undertaken under part 201 of

the act and these rules shall be based on best available information.

(2) The generic cleanup criteria developed by the department using the algorithms

presented in these rules are derived primarily from data that reflect chronic toxicity

endpoints. If a hazardous substance has a more sensitive toxic effect than those

associated with the chronic toxicity data used to calculate a generic criterion, then a

criterion shall be developed to address the most sensitive effect. The generic cleanup

criteria established by the department shall be accepted as protective of the most sensitive

toxic effect in a given exposure pathway for the hazardous substance in question.

(3) If the department has not calculated a criterion for a hazardous substance for a given

exposure pathway, then the person proposing or implementing the response activity shall

supply the necessary data for the department to calculate a criterion or establish a

criterion under subrule (4) of this rule, unless the department determines that a numerical

criterion is not required to assure that a given response activity will be protective.

(4) A generic or site-specific cleanup criterion may be established by the department

based on best professional judgment instead of a calculation based on minimum toxicity

data for a specific hazardous substance when the minimum toxicity data are not available

for that hazardous substance, but data of sufficient quality are available to show that the

hazardous substance in question can be adequately assessed by comparison to the toxicity

of another hazardous substance for which sufficient data are available. A criterion may

be established by the department in this manner when the hazardous substances are

expected by the department to have similar fate and toxicity.

History: 2013 AACS.

R 299.6 Generic cleanup criteria; toxicological and chemical-physical properties;

use of generic cleanup criteria as risk based screening levels; procedure for

developing additional generic criteria.

Rule 6. (1) Except as provided in subrules (9), (10) and (11) of this rule, generic

groundwater cleanup criteria for the residential and nonresidential categories shall be the

values shown in table 1 of R 299.44. If a generic groundwater cleanup criterion is higher

than the flammability and explosivity screening level shown in table 1 of R 299.44, then

the person proposing or implementing response activity shall document whether

additional response activity is required to protect against the acute hazard.

(2) Except as provided in subrules (9), (10), and (11) of this rule, generic soil cleanup

criteria for the residential category shall be the values shown in table 2 of R 299.46. If

soil concentrations are greater than C_sat, then the person proposing or implementing

response activity shall evaluate whether additional response activity is required to control

free-phase liquids or to protect against risks associated with free-phase liquids that are

not accounted for in development of the generic criteria.

(3) Except as provided in subrules (9), (10), and (11) of this rule, generic soil cleanup

criteria for the nonresidential category shall be the values shown in table 3 of R 299.48.

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(4) The generic cleanup criteria shown in R 299.44, R 299.46, and R 299.48 and

identified under subrule (12) of this rule may be used and known as risk-based screening

levels for corrective actions required under part 213 of the act.

(5) Generic cleanup criteria under R 299.44, R 299.46, and R 299.48 are based on the

target detection limit or background concentration in the following cases:

(a) If a calculated cleanup criterion is less than the target detection limit for that

hazardous substance in a given medium, then the target detection limit is the cleanup

criterion. Criteria to which this subdivision applies are designated with a footnote in the

criteria tables.

(b) A background concentration may be substituted for a generic cleanup criterion when

the background concentration is higher than a criterion shown in R 299.44, R 299.46, or

R 299.48.

(6) If a hazardous substance imparts adverse aesthetic characteristics to groundwater at a

concentration less than the health-based criterion for that hazardous substance, then the

aesthetic-based criterion derived under R 299.9 is shown as the drinking water criterion

in the table of generic cleanup criteria in R 299.44 and designated with a footnote.

(7) Except as provided in section 20120a(9) of the act, R 299.49(1)(l), and

R 299.49(1)(o), the toxicological and physical-chemical input values used by the

department to derive generic cleanup criteria with the equations and default assumptions

provided in R 299.10, R 299.14, R 299.20, R 299.22, R 299.24, and R 299.26 are shown

in table 4 of R 299.50.

(8) Toxicological and chemical-physical data in table 4 of R 299.50, if available, shall

be used in conjunction with the equations and default assumptions that appear in these

rules for the development of generic cleanup criteria under subrules (9) or (10) of this

rule, except as provided in section 20120a(9) of the act, R 299.49(1)(l), and R

299.49(1)(o).

(9) For a substance that is not listed in the cleanup criteria tables in R 299.44, R 299.46,

or R 299.48, the department may determine if the substance is a hazardous substance

using best available information about the toxicological and physical-chemical properties

of that substance and use that information to develop a generic or site-specific cleanup

criterion.

(10) For a substance that is listed in the cleanup criteria tables in R 299.44, R 299.46, or

R 299.48, if the department obtains sufficient information to support calculation of a

cleanup criterion which is designated in the cleanup criteria tables or table 4 of R 299.50

with a footnote “ID” or “NA,” the department shall use best available information to

calculate a cleanup criterion for the hazardous substance.

(11) If a new state drinking water standard is established or a state drinking water

standard is changed after the effective date of this rule, the drinking water standard in

effect under section 5 of 1976 PA 399, MCL 325.1005, shall become the generic

residential cleanup criterion under R 299.44, as provided in section 20120a(5) of the act.

(12) If a generic cleanup criterion is developed under subrule (9) or (10) of this rule, or

modified under subrule (11) of this rule, the department shall make the new toxicological

and physical-chemical data and criterion available by announcing it on the department’s

internet web site, and by publishing notice of the change in the department calendar, or

by such other means that effectively notifies interested persons. The new criterion shall

take effect when published and announced by the department as required in this rule. The

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new data and resulting cleanup criterion shall remain effective and be used as required

under these rules until the department promulgates revised data and criteria pursuant to

administrative procedures act, 1969 PA 306, MCL 24.201 to 24.328.

History: 2013 AACS.

R 299.8 Groundwater cleanup criteria generally.

Rule 8. (1) Except as provided in subrule (2) of this rule, the generic groundwater

cleanup criteria applicable at a given facility shall be the most restrictive of the criteria

developed under R 299.9, R 299.10, or R 299.14, considering those pathways that are

reasonable and relevant to the facility and the category of cleanup criteria being proposed

or implemented.

(2) If a generic groundwater cleanup criterion developed under R 299.9, R 299.10, or R

299.14 is greater than the solubility limit of that hazardous substance in water at 25^o

Celsius, then the solubility limit shall be the generic criteria for that pathway.

History: 2013 AACS.

R 299.9 Calculation of generic cleanup criteria for groundwater in aquifer based

on adverse aesthetic impacts.

Rule 9. (1) If a hazardous substance, singly or in combination with other hazardous

substances present at the facility, imparts adverse aesthetic characteristics to groundwater

in an aquifer, then the cleanup criterion shall be the secondary maximum contaminant