The Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection told stakeholders it mailed 74 annual certification letters to property owners whose sites reached permanent solution status but rely on an active mitigation measure to keep vapor intrusion or other exposure pathways controlled.

"Those annual certifications were dropped in the mail earlier this week," Brian (DEP staff) said on the call. He described the certification as a five-point statement the property owner must confirm, including that the mitigation system is operating, is understood by the owner, that the owner has financial resources to operate the system, and that DEP may inspect the system with reasonable notice.

Brian said DEP included a shutdown-restart test request in the letter under a 2024 MCP regulation: "We wrote that into the letter again this year. So we're asking the property owners to do a shutdown restart test as part of the certification to show that the telemetry is working." He said the system telemetry is important because many systems have been in place since the APM regulation took effect in February 2014.

DEP said the certification responses will be posted to the data portal as they are received. The letters were sent to current property owners (the agency noted the property owner at the time of the mailing, not necessarily the party that filed the permanent solution). The letters are intended to confirm that active mitigation measures tied to Activity and Use Limitations (AULs) remain functional and monitored.

Stakeholders can look for the letters on the data portal and, where appropriate, notify property owners. Wendy (LSPA representative) and DEP agreed that DEP can provide a short compliance tip that stakeholder groups will distribute.

No formal votes were taken on this issue during the call.