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Florida

Old closures and today's cleanup numbers

Agency Florida Department of Environmental Protection

This page helps a consultant weigh a past Florida cleanup closure against the numbers the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) has in force now.

In a Phase I ESA

Before a past release is called historical, the standard requires the professional to review the reasonably ascertainable documentation and data showing that the regulator's unrestricted use criteria were met, and it says a past release may stop qualifying if regulatory criteria have changed (E1527-21, 3.2.39, 3.2.39.1). The general reading is on Old closure and today's cleanup criteria.

Which numbers the closure met

  • The rules. DEP's cleanup criteria rule is Chapter 62-780, F.A.C., Contaminated Site Cleanup Criteria, and its target level rule is Chapter 62-777, Contaminant Cleanup Target Levels. DEP gives June 12, 2013 as the date the separate petroleum (62-770), drycleaning solvent (62-782) and brownfields (62-785) cleanup criteria rules were repealed, with a pointer to 62-780. A closure before that date may cite one of them. See Contaminated Site Cleanup Criteria.
  • Earlier target levels. DEP's Waste Management Rules page posts comparison tables of the cleanup target levels of May 26, 1999 and April 17, 2005, for groundwater and surface water and for soil. It keeps a list of older guidance, among it groundwater guidance concentrations from 1986, 1989 and 1994 and soil cleanup goals from 1995 and 1996. DEP says these are provided for historical reference only and generally do not apply to current cleanups, and it points to rule 62-780.150(4) for the applicability of superseded target levels.
  • Alternative levels. DEP says a risk assessment may propose alternative cleanup target levels for groundwater or soil, and that an alternative scenario for risk-based closure may also require institutional or engineering controls. Check whether a closure rested on such levels instead of the tables.
  • Closure documents. DEP names a Site Rehabilitation Completion Order, an LSSI No Further Action, and conditional closure (Risk Management Options II or III of Chapter 62-780) as the closures of its Low-Scored Site Initiative. Among the plans and reports submitted for a cleanup under 62-780 it names a No Further Action Proposal, a Site Rehabilitation Completion Report and, where an engineering control is needed for closure, an Engineering Control Maintenance Plan. Its Division of Waste Management contamination report defines Closed as a site or discharge where cleanup has been completed, and Closed with Conditions as a site where cleanup has been completed with restrictions added on the land use.
  • Conditions. DEP says institutional or engineering controls needed after closure must be registered in the Institutional Controls Registry. Its guidance has sections on a completion order with conditions that uses non-recorded controls, and on certifying restricted activities at conditionally closed cleanup sites.

Today's numbers

DEP posts the Chapter 62-777 tables as two workbooks: Table I, Groundwater and Surface Water Cleanup Target Levels, and Table II, Soil Cleanup Target Levels. It gives April 17, 2005 as the date of the chapter's latest rulemaking and posts a technical report on how the levels were developed, dated February 2005. The pages read do not say which column fits which land use, but the tables' own headings do. Table II heads its direct exposure columns "Direct Exposure - Residential" and "Direct Exposure - Industrial", beside leachability columns based on groundwater, freshwater surface water, marine surface water and groundwater of low yield or poor quality. Table I gives groundwater criteria, freshwater and marine surface water criteria, and criteria for groundwater of low yield or poor quality.

See DEP's Guidance Documents Referenced in Waste Management Rules, where both tables are listed, and the handbook's Florida cleanup levels.

Getting the closure file

DEP's OCULUS system stores documents under a DEP program and facility, so have the facility or site name or the facility identification number. DEP's Petroleum Restoration Program page on site files says the electronic database for a site may not have every paper document in electronic format, and its Public Records page says a paper records search goes through the district office's Public Records Coordinator or the Office of Ombudsman and Public Services (Public.services@FloridaDEP.gov). DEP may charge for extensive use of staff time. The routes and fees are on Public records and OCULUS. DEP's guidance has a section on recording restrictive covenants in the public record, so where a restrictive covenant is involved ask for the recorded instrument as well as the DEP order.

Sources

Florida Department of Environmental Protection pages, read October 6, 2026:

The table and column headings given under Today's numbers are from DEP's Chapter 62-777 workbooks, as this handbook's Florida cleanup levels pages carry them.

Maintained by Barrow. General reference only, not legal or professional advice. Barrow is not affiliated with or endorsed by any government agency. See how Barrow drafts the report