Business management considerations in the selection of institutional and engineering controls for MGP site remediation

Risk-based remediation of MGP sites allows for the application of engineering and institutional controls to eliminate exposure pathways and definitively protect human health and the environmental, notwithstanding leaving behind MGP residuals or their chemical constituents. The selection of engineering and institutional controls for remediation of an MGP site can result in substantially lower initial construction costs for remediation. However, this approach results in the need to consider a number of business management aspects. At sites closed with significant chemicals left behind using engineering and institutional controls, long-term care and monitoring of the site are inevitable. There is also a higher likelihood of reopening causing the need to perform additional remediation at such sites, because the chemicals left behind are vulnerable to further attention if land use changes or the scientific understanding of the toxicology of the chemicals changes. This paper will describe the long-term business management issues for MGP sites, which rely on engineering or institutional controls, including site maintenance, site monitoring, potential for reopening, potential for toxicological changes and ownership changes. In addition, the paper will describe one approach to economic evaluation of the potential business issues.