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Land Recycling Program

Pennsylvania's Land Recycling Program (Voluntary Cleanup Program) was established by a series of legislation enacted in 1995. This package (Acts 2, 3 and 4 of 1995) serves as the basis for what is more familiarly known as the Land Recycling Program or simply 'Act 2.' The Land Recycling Program encourages the voluntary cleanup and reuse of contaminated commercial and industrial sites.

The Land Recycling Program is built on four cornerstones that break down redevelopment obstacles:

  • Uniform cleanup standards: enables the remediator to clearly understand the extent and cost of site cleanup. The selection of standard(s) assures that a site is protective of its present and future use. A property used for industrial development need not be as clean as a residential site.
  • Liability relief: addresses the concerns that previously inhibited site redevelopment and sale of properties, the liability protection extends to future owners.
  • Standardized reviews and time limits: provides date certainty. Consistent reporting requirements and standardized review procedures provide a definite time frame for report review.
  • Financial Assistance: provides grants and low-interest loans for assessment or remediation. These programs are available to people who did not cause or contribute to contamination at the site.

The goals of the Land Recycling Program are to encourage private sector cleanup of contaminated, vacant or otherwise underutilized properties and return them to productive use. Further development of brownfield properties stimulates economic growth, encourages local government partnerships with business, and maximizes the use of existing infrastructure, thereby preserving prime farmland, open space and natural areas.

What’s New

  • Remediators, consultants, attorneys, and real estate professionals, along with DEP regional office staff, continue to identify technical and procedural questions concerning the implementation of the Land Recycling Program (Act 2). A Question and Answer (Q&A) Document Tab has been added to the Guidance and Technical Tools page of the Land Recycling Program website which provides access to the Q&A document. The Q&A document will be updated periodically to add new Q&A’s and to update any answers that need to be corrected. This Q&A Document is organized in order of the sections of the Land Recycling Program Technical Guidance Manual (TGM) with the understanding that each issue will be addressed within the TGM during future revisions, as appropriate. Questions and comments concerning these Q&A’s may be sent to the Land Recycling Program resource email account at ra-eplandrecycling@pa.gov.
  • PFAS MCL Values Now Effective as MSCs – On January 14, 2023, new safe drinking water standards for two per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS)—perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) and perfluorooctanesulfonic acid (PFOS) went into effect.  The PFAS Maximum Contaminant Level (MCL) Final Rulemaking can be found in the Pennsylvania Bulletin at 53 Pa.B. 333. These final MCL values became effective as the groundwater medium-specific concentrations (MSCs) for PFOA and PFOS upon their publication in the Pennsylvania Bulletin on January 14, 2023.  These new MSCs will be incorporated into the proposed Chapter 250 rulemaking currently under development.  Additionally, the toxicity values used for these MCL calculations will be used to calculate proposed soil direct contact numeric values used to determine soil MSCs.  The new PFOA and PFOS groundwater MSCs can be found on the Land Recycling Program’s Statewide health standard webpage.
  • OnBase Public Upload Instructions - Find specific Instructions for the electronic upload of Land Recycling Program and other Bureau of Environmental Cleanup and Brownfields reports and forms.
  • Toxics Management Spreadsheet (Macro-Enabled Excel) - The Toxics Management Spreadsheet is a macro-enabled Excel binary file that combines the functions of the PENTOXSD model and the Toxics Screening Analysis spreadsheet to evaluate the reasonable potential for discharges to cause excursions above water quality standards and to determine WQBELs.
  • Vapor Intrusion Screening Value Tables (Excel) - As of October 13, 2022, there have been screening values added for mercury for indoor air, sub-slab, and near-source sampling data as well as the ability to use the J&E model for soil vapor (near-source sampling) data.

Fact Sheets and Other Information