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Exterior Environmental Issues
Key Points: Exterior Environmental Issues
- Title 5 of the Massachusetts Environment Code regulates onsite sewage disposal systems.
- Homeowners with cesspools or septic systems must have the system inspected prior to change of ownership or use.
- Sellers must provide buyers with an inspection results report before closing on the sale of a property.
- Massachusetts has implemented some measures to help homeowners with compliance and financing issues related to onsite sewage disposal systems.
- The Massachusetts Oil and Hazardous Material Release Prevention and Response Act (“21E”) implemented CERCLA regulations for the Commonwealth.
- CERCLA is also known as the Superfund Law.
- If known, sellers must disclose the presence of toxic chemicals or petroleum products on or under the property’s soil.
- If the party responsible for the presence of hazardous waste on a property can’t be located or identified, the landowner becomes responsible for cleanup.
- If landowners can’t or won’t perform a required hazardous waste cleanup, Massachusetts will clean up the site and then place a lien on the property to recover cleanup costs.
- Landowners may not be liable for cleanup if they can prove they took reasonable steps to ensure there was no hazardous waste when they purchased the property.
- Because liens placed on property may impact lenders, Massachusetts lenders may require that property be inspected before they’ll approve a loan.
- A Licensed Site Professional (LSP) is an environmental expert licensed by an independent board of registration.
- A 21E report is an environmental site assessment that a lender may require before financing the purchase of a potentially contaminated property.
- Electromagnetic waves are also known as electromagnetic fields (EMFs) and contain both electric and magnetic fields.
- Although evidence is inconclusive, EMFs have been linked to certain cancers.
- For houses near utility lines, the utility company or a testing company may be contacted for EMF testing.
- EMFs are measured in milliGauss (mG), and a reading of more than two mG is considered potentially risky due to the link to certain cancers.
- The Massachusetts Wetlands Protection Act (WPA) protects areas such as a wetland, beach, dune, bank, flat, marsh, or swamp bordering a larger water body.
- The WPA sets up a public review and decision-making process by which designated environmentally sensitive areas may be regulated.
- WPA regulation protects public and private water supplies, ground water supply, wildlife and fish habitat, mitigates storm damage, and contributes to flood control and pollution prevention.
- A buffer zone is any area within 100 feet of a protected area, such as a beach dune or a marsh; buffer zones and may be subject to regulation.
- Before any activity may be done within a buffer zone that may alter that area, permitting is required.
- To apply for a permit to make certain changes within a protected area, a Notice of Intent or a Request for Determination of Applicability must be submitted to the local municipal conservation commission.
- The Rivers Protection Act (RPA) expanded the WPA to include rivers, including almost 9,000 miles of riverbanks.
- The RPA created a 200-foot riverfront area on both sides of a river or stream.
- Existing single-family homes and accessory uses are exempt from the RPA; other work in protected areas must go through the WPA-required permitting process.
- The location, construction, maintenance, repair, relocation, removal, and abandonment of underground storage tank (UST) is regulated.
- In residential applications, underground storage tanks were often used to store heating oil.
- Leaking underground storage tanks can contaminate the soil and groundwater and lead to a costly cleanup process.
- Soil contamination cleanup is the responsibility of whoever owns the property at the time the leak is found.
- Buyers of older homes should determine whether a storage tank exists, and whether it has been properly decommissioned.
- Decommissioning is the process of properly closing out an underground storage tank to avoid future leaking issues.
- To close or abandon a UST, the tank must be filled with sand, gravel, or cement to prevent future cave-ins.