Privatized Waste Cleanup in Massachusetts: LSP Program

In 1993, Massachusetts became the first state in the nation to privatize its hazardous-waste site cleanup program in an effort to expedite contaminated properties through the regulatory system and to provide a more definitive framework for quantifying risk and identifying cleanup targets. This transfer of responsibility for the oversight of assessment and remediation of all but the most seriously contaminated properties to private-sector professionals was achieved through the creation of an innovative Licensed Site Professional (LSP) program. Today, approximately 80 of contaminated sites in the Commonwealth are moving through initial site classification to a finding of “No Significant Risk” without traditional Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) oversight. This paper explains the regulatory course of cleanups in Massachusetts; examines the impacts of cleanup privatization on government, industry, and the environment; and presents the qualifications of LSPs in light of their evolving roles with private clients and the DEP. It also hopes to stimulate discussion of the viability of the LSP program as a national model of hazardous-waste management.