A.(1)  The Department of Environmental Quality shall adopt minimum remediation standards for soil, groundwater, and surface water quality necessary for the remediation of contamination of immovable property.  The standards shall be developed with input at all major points from an advisory group or task force appointed by the governor, balanced for thoroughness and fairness, composed of representatives of industry, business, state and local agencies with related jurisdiction, universities, environmental organizations, and other citizens.  The remediation standards shall be developed to ensure that the potential for harm to public health and safety and to the environment is minimized to acceptable levels, taking into consideration the location, the surroundings, the intended use of the property, the potential exposure to the discharge, and the surrounding ambient conditions, whether naturally occurring or man-made.  The standards shall be adopted as a rule in accordance with the Administrative Procedure Act.

(2)  Until the minimum remediation standards for the protection of public health and safety as described herein are adopted, the department shall not approve any voluntary remedial action plan under Part II of this Chapter.

B.  In developing minimum remediation standards the department shall:

(1)  Base the standards on generally accepted and peer reviewed scientific evidence or methodologies to the extent practical.

(2)  Base the standards upon reasonable assumptions of exposure scenarios as to amounts of contaminants to which humans or other receptors will be exposed, when and where those exposures will occur, and the amount of that exposure.

(3)  Avoid the use of redundant conservative assumptions.  The department shall avoid to the maximum extent reasonable the use of redundant conservative assumptions by the use of parameters that provide an adequate margin of safety and which avoid the use of unrealistic conservative exposure parameters and which guidelines make use of the guidance and regulations for exposure assessment developed by the United States Environmental Protection Agency pursuant to the “Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980”, 42 U.S.C. § 9601 et seq. and other statutory authorities as applicable.

(4)  Where feasible, establish the remediation standards as numeric or narrative standards setting forth acceptable levels or concentrations for particular contaminants.

Acts 1995, No. 1092, §1, eff. July 1, 1996.