Regulatory Compliance

Environmental regulations are constantly being amended by government authorities. They can affect any project in any industry. Stream GeoSciences works collaboratively with regulators and project owners to proactively advance each project while simultaneously meeting all governmental regulatory goals and requirements.

We serve as a liaison between the regulatory agencies and our clients, providing interpretations, document preparation for regulators, compliance inventories, and management plans. The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) is the environmental agency for the State of Texas. Stream GeoSciences assists you in the TCEQ’s regulatory reporting or entering the appropriate program for your contaminated site.

TCEQ Environmental Programs

Leaking Petroleum Storage Tank Program (LPST)
Cleanups of contamination that are caused by spills, leaks, or other releases of petroleum substances or hazardous substances from regulated underground and aboveground storage tanks is regulated by the TCEQ.

According to the TCEQ’s website, the Remediation Division provides oversight the assessment and cleanup of LPSTs, which include sites that are handled by the responsible party (RP) and by the state (State-Lead). The program’s mission is to supervise the cleanup of spills from regulated storage tanks by recording and evaluating all reported incidents of releases of petroleum and other hazardous substances from underground and above-ground storage tanks. The goal is to assure that the public is not exposed to hazardous levels of contamination by requiring the removal of the contamination to levels protective of human health and the environment.

The owner or operator of a regulated storage tank is required to notify the TCEQ within 24 hours of any discharge or spill that causes or could cause pollution to the waters of the State of Texas. To ensure that a release incident has been abated, and that the contamination resulting from the release incident is properly assessed and remediated, the Remediation Division monitors all reported incidents, from initial environmental assessments, through corrective action plans and requests for closure. To learn more about the Leaking Petroleum Storage Tank Program please visit the TCEQ’s website at:
https://www.tceq.texas.gov/remediation/pst_rp/pst.html

Voluntary Cleanup Program (VCP)
The Texas VCP provides administrative, technical, and legal incentives to encourage the cleanup of contaminated sites in Texas. Since all non-responsible parties, including future lenders and landowners, receive protection from liability to the state of Texas for cleanup of sites under the VCP, most of the constraints for completing real estate transactions at those sites are eliminated. As a result, many unused or under used properties may be restored to economically productive or community beneficial use. Also under the VCP, site cleanups follow a streamlined approach to reduce future human and environmental risk to safe levels. The VCP Offers Many Benefits and Incentives to Site Cleanup:

Innocent Owner/Operator Program (IOP)
The Texas IOP provides a certificate to an innocent owner or operator if their property is contaminated as a result of a release or migration of contaminants from a source or sources not located on the property, and they did not cause or contribute to the source or sources of contamination. Like the Texas VCP, the IOP can be used as a redevelopment tool or as a tool to add value to a contaminated property by providing an Innocent Owner/Operator Certificate (IOC). However, unlike the VCP release of liability, IOCs are not transferable to future owners/operators. Future innocent owners or operators are eligible to enter the IOP and may receive an IOC only after they become an owner or operator of the site.

Dry Cleaner Remediation Program (DCRP)
The DCRP establishes a prioritization list of dry cleaner sites and administers the Dry Cleaning Remediation fund to assist with remediation of contamination caused by dry cleaning solvents.

Municipal Setting Designations (MSD)
An MSD is an official state designation given to property within a municipality or its extraterritorial jurisdiction that certifies that designated groundwater at the property is not used as potable water, and is prohibited from future use as potable water because that groundwater is contaminated in excess of the applicable potable-water protective concentration level. The prohibition must be in the form of a city ordinance, or a restrictive covenant that is enforceable by the city and filed in the property records.