Following years of consideration, development, and review, the Connecticut Department of Energy & Environmental Protection (DEEP) has revised the State’s Remediation Standards Regulations (“RSRs”) and Environmental Use Restriction (“EUR”) regulations. The updated regulations, available here (RSRs) and here (EUR), are effective as of February 16, 2021 (note: versions at these links show the changes to the regulations via brackets, indicating deletions, and underlines, indicating additions).
The RSRs specify the standards for remediation of environmental pollution in soil and groundwater in Connecticut. The approved “Wave 2” amendments include changes that provide increased opportunities and methodologies for addressing contamination in a more cost-effective manner, while still ensuring protection of human health and the environment. Overall, they are aimed at providing for faster clean-ups, with less DEEP oversight.
The EUR regulations affect Environmental Land Use Restrictions (ELURs) and new Notices of Activity and Use Limitation (NAULs). ELURs are easements granted to DEEP by a property owner to limit a use of a property in some way, and are used as a tool to achieve compliance with certain provisions of the RSRs. The amended ELUR regulations are aimed at making the process of implementing an ELUR more efficient and predictable. The EUR regulations also include the implementation of NAULs, which were created by statute in 2013 but were lacking implementing regulations. NAULs are a less burdensome way of implementing certain restrictions on the use of a property to address certain RSR compliance requirements.
For more information, see DEEP’s press release:
https://portal.ct.gov/DEEP/News-Releases/News-Releases—2021/DEEP-Adopts-Amended-Regulations-to-Speed-Pollution-Cleanup
Please contact our Environmental group if you would like additional information or need advice about these regulation revisions:
Deborah R. Brancato
(203) 252-2648; dbrancato@carmodylaw.com