Pennsylvania

Land Recycling Program

Agency Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection

Pennsylvania Land Recycling Program (Act 2)

Pennsylvania's voluntary cleanup program is the Land Recycling Program of the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP). It was established by Acts 2, 3 and 4 of 1995 and is commonly called Act 2. DEP says it encourages the voluntary cleanup and reuse of contaminated commercial and industrial sites, and rests on four things: uniform cleanup standards, liability relief, standardized reviews with time limits, and financial assistance.

In a Phase I ESA

Act 2 sites are the Pennsylvania form of the state voluntary cleanup records that ASTM E1527-21 lists as a standard source. The general reading of a voluntary cleanup listing is on the VCP page. Five Pennsylvania details shape how to read one.

A notice starts it. The formal process begins when a Notice of Intent to Remediate (NIR) is submitted to DEP. The NIR gives basic information on the applicant and the site, and is filed with proof of notice to the municipality and of a newspaper notice to the public. A site with an NIR has started, not finished.
Two lists, by stage. DEP publishes Act 2 sites as two lists, Completed Sites and Sites In Progress. Check both.
The relief is tied to the contamination identified. DEP says the remediation, and the liability relief that results, is specific to the contamination identified at each site. It also says the liability protection extends to future owners. Compare what the final report addressed with the property and the concerns in front of you.
The standard chosen tells you what may remain. DEP says a property used for industrial development need not be as clean as a residential site. The standards are on the Act 2 remediation standards page.
Controls mean a covenant. An environmental covenant is required whenever an engineering or institutional control is used to demonstrate attainment of an Act 2 standard. Check the Activity and Use Limitations (PA AUL) Registry for any completed site.

Tank releases can end up here too. DEP's tank incident list gives the status Administrative Close Out to release incidents being remediated through the Act 2 process, so a tank case with that status may have its real record in this program.

DEP says the program's grants and low-interest loans are available to people who did not cause or contribute to contamination at the site.

What the record shows

The forms DEP publishes show the paper an Act 2 site can generate:

a Notice of Intent to Remediate, filed with its municipal and public notices;
a transmittal sheet for plan and report submissions;
checklists for the background, site-specific and Statewide health standards, and for special industrial areas;
a request for determination of a non-use aquifer;
a Final Report Summary, which DEP says is filed with its Central Office and with the site's project manager in the regional office;
a model buyer and seller agreement, and a model environmental covenant.

DEP says a final report that uses the Statewide health standard must demonstrate attainment of that standard to receive the liability relief Act 2 affords. The final report is the document to ask for.

The statutes are the Land Recycling and Environmental Remediation Standards Act (Act 2 of 1995), the Economic Development Agency, Fiduciary and Lender Environmental Liability Protection Act (Act 3 of 1995) and the Industrial Sites Environmental Assessment Act (Act 4 of 1995). The regulations are 25 Pa. Code Chapter 250.

Where to look a site up

DEP's Program Results page links the two Act 2 site lists, Completed Sites and Sites In Progress, with instructions, and a spreadsheet of Act 2 non-use aquifer determinations.
The program is carried out through the Environmental Cleanup and Brownfields program in DEP's six regional offices, and DEP tells remediators to consult their regional Land Recycling Program project manager on site-specific issues.
The central office mailbox is landrecycling@pa.gov.

Getting the file

DEP's records are reviewed through its regional offices. DEP recommends an Informal File Review, requested on an electronic form and scheduled with the regional office, before a request under the Right-to-Know Law. Both routes are on the Informal File Review and Right-to-Know requests page. DEP notes that most information submitted through its public upload system is public.

Sources

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