18 AAC 75.355. Sampling and analysis

(a) Unless the department determines that final confirmation sampling is not needed to meet the requirements of the site cleanup rules, a responsible person shall submit a sampling and analysis plan for approval under 18 AAC 75.360, and after implementing the plan, shall submit the analytical sampling results collected to the department. Based on the results of the analyses, a responsible person shall demonstrate compliance with the site cleanup rules.

(b) A responsible person and the owner or operator of an offsite or portable treatment facility under 18 AAC 75.365 shall ensure that the collection, interpretation, and reporting of data, and the required sampling and analysis is conducted or supervised by a qualified, impartial third party. The department will waive the requirement for use of an impartial third party if a responsible person demonstrates that work performed will be conducted or supervised by a qualified and objective person, and if the department determines that a waiver is protective of human health, safety, and welfare, and of the environment, and that strict compliance with the impartial third party requirements is not practicable. To request a waiver under this subsection, in addition to meeting the requirements of 18 AAC 75.390, a responsible person shall submit

(1) a written request for a waiver;

(2) the resume of the person qualified to conduct or supervise the work to be performed, showing relevant education, vocational training, related work experience, and any special training, license, certificate, or registration held by that person; and

(3) a description of the supervisory and organizational structure related to the person identified in (2) of this subsection.

(c) If a hazardous substance is suspected at the site because of empirical evidence or prior analysis, but is not detected or is detected at a concentration below the practical quantitation limit, and the practical quantitation limit is higher than the cleanup level for that substance,

(1) the department will determine the responsible person to have attained the cleanup level, if additionally the more stringent of the following conditions is met:

(A) the practical quantitation limit is no greater than 10 times the method detection limit for all hazardous substances other than polychlorinated biphenyls where the practical quantitation limit is no greater than five times the method detection limit; or

(B) the practical quantitation limit is no greater than the practical quantitation limit established in EPA's Test Methods for Evaluating Solid Waste, Physical/Chemical Methods (SW-846), Third Edition, including Final Update III (1997), adopted by reference; and

(2) if the department determines that additional action is necessary to ensure protection of human health, safety, or welfare, or of the environment, the department will require one or more of the following:

(A) use of a surrogate measure to estimate the concentration of the hazardous substance;

(B) use of a specialized sample collection or analytical method to improve the accuracy, precision, method detection limit, or practical quantitation limit for the hazardous substances at the site; or

(3) if the department determines that an improved analytical method or other responsive action is necessary to ensure protection of human health, safety, or welfare, or of the environment, the department will, before site closure and if the site is in a monitoring stage, periodically consider whether improved analytical methods should be used at the site and will require the use of an improved analytical method or other responsive action.

(d) Among the analytical methods set out in EPA's Test Methods for Evaluating Solid Waste, Physical/Chemical Methods (SW-846), as adopted by reference in (c) of this section, if there is more than one analytical method for a hazardous substance, a responsible person may select any of those methods with a practical quantitation limit less than the applicable cleanup level. If only one analytical method has a practicable quantitation limit less than the applicable cleanup level, that method must be used. Analysis for petroleum contamination must follow the applicable Alaska methods for petroleum hydrocarbons referred to in Table 1 of Chapter 2 of the Underground Storage Tanks Procedures Manual, dated November 7, 2002. Table 1 of Chapter 2 and Appendices D and E of the Underground Storage Tanks Procedures Manual, dated November 7, 2002 are adopted by reference.

(e) Laboratory analysis under the site cleanup rules must be performed by a laboratory approved by the department under 18 AAC 78.800 - 18 AAC 78.815.

History: Eff. 1/22/99, Register 149; am 8/27/2000, Register 155; am 1/30/2003, Register 165

Authority: AS 44.46.025

Editor's note: EPA's Test Methods for Evaluating Solid Waste, Physical/Chemical Methods (SW-846), adopted by reference in this section, may be purchased from the U.S. Department of Commerce, National Technical Information Service, 5285 Port Royal Road, Springfield, VA 22161, (800) 553-6847, Fax: (703) 321-8547. The Underground Storage Tanks Procedures Manual, adopted by reference in 18 AAC 75.355, may be requested from the department at any of the offices listed below. Both documents may be viewed at the department's Anchorage, Fairbanks, Juneau, or Soldotna office.

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