Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the COM25 Policy topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
MassDEP rolls out draft COM 25 soils policy, invites comments through Dec. 24
Summary
MassDEP presented a draft COM 25 soils policy to allow managed reuse of large volumes of contaminated soil at characterized 21E receiving sites, with written ACO approvals, public involvement requirements and site-specific acceptance criteria; public comment is open through 12/24/2025.
Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection staff on Tuesday introduced a draft policy, COM 25, that would create a formal approval process for importing and reusing large volumes of contaminated soil at disposal (21E) sites.
Millie Garcia Serrano, assistant commissioner for the Bureau of Waste Site Cleanup, said the policy is intended to expand opportunities for beneficial reuse while protecting human health, the environment and ensuring community involvement. "This policy, if finalized, will allow the significant additional reuse of soils in the Commonwealth," she said.
Luke Rogers, chief bureau counsel, described the policy structure as three parts: a written request and issuance process for COM 25 administrative consent orders (ACOs); a set of minimum terms and conditions that the ACO must include; and a formal public-involvement process. "These are big projects. They will have impacts on surrounding communities. We wanted to make sure that we formalized that public involvement process," Rogers said. He stressed COM 25 differs from existing COM 15 ACOs because COM 25 receiving sites are themselves disposal sites subject to 21E and the MCP, and COM 25 permits different characterization and permanent-solution obligations under the MCP.
A prerecorded technical presentation by Paul Locke laid out the department's proposed approach for site-specific acceptance criteria. Locke said donor and receiving sites must be adequately characterized to MCP-equivalent standards and that imported material must not be worse than what's already at the receiving site. He recommended two caps — on the mean concentration and the maximum concentration — and proposed that acceptance criteria be derived by comparing donor-site statistics to receiving-site means and maximums, subject to upper caps drawn from MCP values.
The department also addressed hazardous-waste and containment questions. In response to a participant who asked whether treated hazardous waste could be accepted, Rogers said: "If it is treated so that it is no longer a characteristic hazardous waste ... it's fine." Staff confirmed containment determinations and other MCP mechanisms could apply in appropriate cases.
Several participants urged the agency to consider lowering the policy's large-volume threshold (the draft focuses on projects greater than about 250,000 cubic yards). MassDEP staff said the draft is intended for very large projects and that smaller-volume reuse remains handled through existing mechanisms, but they invited written comments on volume and implementation details.
MassDEP repeatedly referred to the policy as COM 25 in meeting materials and the public notice. The prerecorded technical presentation occasionally used "COM 24" and "COM 24/25" — an inconsistency the department acknowledged in discussion and invited commenters to flag. Millie Garcia Serrano said all materials (policy, video and spreadsheet) are posted online and the public comment period ends Dec. 24, 2025.
Next steps: MassDEP will accept written comments through 2025-12-24, revise the draft as appropriate and proceed through the agency's internal review and public-notice processes before finalizing any ACO procedures.
