Old closures and today's cleanup numbers

This page helps a consultant weigh a past Texas cleanup closure against the numbers the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) 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 Texas Risk Reduction Program (TRRP). TCEQ's rule is 30 Texas Administrative Code Chapter 350. It was published in the Texas Register on September 17, 1999, became effective September 23, 1999, and was revised effective March 19, 2007, March 19, 2009, and February 6, 2025. See the TRRP page.
• The 1993 Risk Reduction Standards. TCEQ's Risk Reduction Rule, 30 Texas Administrative Code Chapter 335, Subchapter S, sets the requirements for three risk reduction standards for a closure or remediation under section 335.8. TCEQ says there is now limited opportunity to use these rules, and that its spreadsheets of the older tables, last updated in March 2006, will not be updated. At non-permitted industrial and hazardous waste facilities, TCEQ says the goals come from the 1993 standards or from TRRP depending on the date of initial notification.
• Tank cases. TCEQ's tank rules are 30 Texas Administrative Code Chapter 334. Its glossaries for the leaking tank case record also list a TRRP response action plan, a self implementation notice under Chapter 350, a variance request to apply the Chapter 334 rules, and Plan A and Plan B risk assessment reports. They do not say which rule closed a case, so read the file.
• Whether TRRP applied at all. TCEQ publishes a procedure for deciding whether a release is subject to TRRP, with a report due 60 days from discovery.
• Closure papers. In the leaking tank record, TCEQ glosses FINAL as a final concurrence letter, FSC as a final site closure report, RATR as a remedial action termination request and TANK CLOSR as a tank closure concurrence letter. In the Voluntary Cleanup Program, TCEQ issues a conditional certificate of completion where long-term response actions, such as engineering controls or institutional controls, are being carried out, a final certificate, and a final certificate that relies on a Municipal Setting Designation certificate (see Municipal Setting Designations). For industrial and hazardous waste sites, TCEQ uses closure to mean taking a waste management unit out of service. Check which of these a file holds, and whether it states conditions.

Today's numbers

TCEQ says its Tier 1 protective concentration levels (PCLs) are the default cleanup standards in TRRP. Its page lists the February 2025 Tier 1 soil and groundwater PCL tables, the August 2023 Tier 1 sediment PCL tables, a human health surface water table, and Tier 2 equations for PCLs calculated with site-specific inputs. It keeps earlier versions of the Tier 1 tables for download, dated from March 2001 to May 2023.

The pages read do not say which table fits which land use, but the workbook's own headings do. The February 2025 workbook heads its tables "Tier 1 Residential Soil PCLs", "Tier 1 Commercial/Industrial Soil PCLs" and "Tier 1 Groundwater PCLs - Residential and Commercial/Industrial", and each soil table gives its columns for a 0.5 acre and a 30 acre source area. TCEQ's Voluntary Cleanup Program page says a Drinking Water Survey Report is required where contaminants detected in groundwater exceed the residential health-based drinking water standards of the rules that govern the cleanup, and its program descriptions tie a Municipal Setting Designation to groundwater contaminated above the applicable potable-water PCL.

See TCEQ's TRRP Protective Concentration Levels page and the handbook's Texas cleanup levels.

Getting the closure file

TCEQ gives three routes: TCEQ Records Online to view records online, an email to the Central File Room (cfrreq@tceq.texas.gov) to view or copy paper, microform and optical disc records, and a Public Information Request for records that are not available through Central File Room Online or that contain confidential information. TCEQ asks that a request not go through both. It charges for copying, certifying and supplying electronic records.

Sources

Texas Commission on Environmental Quality pages, read September 30, 2026:

• Texas Risk Reduction Program, last modified March 11, 2026.
• TRRP Protective Concentration Levels, last modified February 2, 2026.
• My Site Might be Contaminated. What Do I Do?, last modified February 23, 2026.
• Cleanups and Closures at Non-Permitted Facilities, last modified March 19, 2026.
• Industrial and Hazardous Waste Corrective Action Program, last modified July 13, 2026.
• About the PST Responsible Party Lead Program, last modified July 14, 2026.
• Correspondence Look Up Table, last modified March 14, 2023.
• Descriptive List of Communication Types, last modified August 10, 2026.
• Voluntary Cleanup Program, last modified March 24, 2026.
• Remediation Program Descriptions, last modified July 17, 2026.
• Access Records from our Central File Room, last modified July 17, 2026.

Texas Commission on Environmental Quality pages, read October 8, 2026:

• Risk Reduction Rule, last modified March 18, 2026.

The table and column headings given under Today's numbers are from TCEQ's Tier 1 PCL workbook of February 2025, as this handbook's Texas cleanup levels pages carry them.