Pennsylvania Act 2 remediation standards

Act 2, the Land Recycling and Environmental Remediation Standards Act, establishes environmental remediation standards for cleanups related to specific Pennsylvania environmental laws. The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) administers them under 25 Pa. Code Chapter 250, which has subchapters for the background standard, the Statewide health standards, the site-specific standard and special industrial areas. This is not a list of sites. It is the yardstick the cleanup programs in this section refer to.

In a Phase I ESA

When a Pennsylvania record says a cleanup was completed, the next question is which standard it met and when.

• The Statewide health numbers are tables. DEP publishes the Statewide health standards as tables of medium-specific concentrations (MSCs): organic and inorganic regulated substances in groundwater, and soil values for direct contact and for soil-to-groundwater.
• The tables changed on November 20, 2021. DEP says revised standards were published in the Pennsylvania Bulletin and took effect that day, with new toxicological information on about 400 substances. A final report or remedial action completion report submitted on or after that date must show attainment of the revised tables to receive Act 2 liability relief. Check the date of a final report against that date, because an earlier report may have been measured against earlier values.
• PFAS values arrived in 2024. DEP's page gives June 25, 2024 as the date EPA's maximum contaminant levels for the listed PFAS compounds become the Statewide health standard groundwater MSCs. In a January 2026 notice it determined that the Hazard Index portion of EPA's April 26, 2024 PFAS rule does not apply to soil.
• DEP posts corrections. The Statewide health standards page carries corrections to the published tables, including a corrected groundwater value for one substance. Read the page notes along with the tables.
• Use decides how clean. DEP says the choice of standard assures a site is protective of its present and future use, and that a property used for industrial development need not be as clean as a residential site. A site that met a standard for nonresidential use is a reason to check for a use restriction.
• Relief is specific. DEP says the liability relief Act 2 provides is specific to the contamination identified at the site.

Where the programs use it

The standards reach beyond the Land Recycling Program.

• The Storage Tank Cleanup Program remediates tank releases under Act 2 along with the Clean Streams Law and the tank statute. One of its status codes is the demonstration of an Act 2 groundwater standard.
• Under the Uniform Environmental Covenants Act, an environmental covenant is required whenever an engineering or institutional control is used to demonstrate attainment of an Act 2 standard, for any cleanup conducted under an applicable Pennsylvania environmental law. The covenants DEP receives are displayed in the Activity and Use Limitations (PA AUL) Registry.
• DEP says the assessment and cleanup work under its Multi-Site Remediation Agreements typically follows Act 2.
• The One Cleanup Program is an agreement with EPA meant to let a site that meets Act 2 requirements also satisfy certain federal cleanup programs, when EPA approves.

DEP's policies page for the program also links a Management of Fill policy, a policy on coordinating immediate responses with final remediation of releases, and a policy on spills and releases at oil and gas well sites.

Where to look a site up

These pages hold the rule and the numbers, not sites.

• Statewide Health Standards, with the MSC tables, the PFAS notices and the corrections.
• Standards, Guidance, and Procedures, with the policies and the guidance and technical tools.
• Statutes and Regulations, with Act 2 and each subchapter of Chapter 250.
• DEP's Program Results page links a spreadsheet of Act 2 non-use aquifer determinations.

Getting the file

The final report is where attainment of a standard is demonstrated. Ask for it in a file review. DEP recommends an Informal File Review before a request under the Right-to-Know Law. Both routes are on the Informal File Review and Right-to-Know requests page.

Sources

Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection pages, read October 1, 2026, no modified date shown:

• Land Recycling Program
• Standards, Guidance, and Procedures
• Statewide Health Standards
• Policies and Procedures
• Statutes and Regulations
• Program Results
• Uniform Environmental Covenants
• Storage Tank Cleanup Program
• Storage Tank Cleanup Locations
• Multi Site Remediation Agreements
• One Cleanup Program
• Informal File Review