The Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) is proposing changes dealing with how laboratories are approved for conducting laboratory analyses of soil, water or air samples at leaking underground storage tanks and contaminated sites.

The DEC proposes to adopt regulation changes in Title 18, Chapter 78 of the Alaska Administrative Code, updating how laboratories are approved for chemical analyses under 18 AAC 75 and 18 AAC 78 and to provide for an effective date of July 1, 2017. The proposed changes include the following:

(1) Change the heading of Article 8 to remove the words, “Underground Storage Tank”

(2) Amend 18 AAC 78.800, Laboratory Approval Requirements, to recognize national laboratory approval organizations instead of a state laboratory approval program and make conforming changes.

(3) Amend 18 AAC 78.810 to revise the process for how the status of a laboratory is determined by the department as approved, provisionally approved or disapproved to conform with changes to    18 AAC 78.800.  

(4) Amend 18 AAC 78.815 to revise the process the department will follow when there is a change in a laboratory’s status, to specify that the department will conduct a periodic review of the approved and provisionally approved laboratories to verify status, and make other conforming and housekeeping changes.

(5) Amend 18 AAC 78.990 to delete the definition of “parameter;” “performance evaluation audit” or “PE;” “PE sample;” “quality assurance manual” or “QA manual;” and provide definitions for “analyte;” “DoD-ELAP;” “matrix;” and “NELAP.”

(6) Housekeeping edits to 18 AAC 78.007, 18 AAC 78.090, 18 AAC 78.235, 18 AAC 78.271, 18 AAC 78.275, 18 AAC 78.600, 18 AAC 78.615 to reflect the above changes, make conforming changes consistent with amendments to 18 AAC 75 for projects JU2011200192 effective June 17, 2015 and JU2015200567 effective November 6, 2016, revise and clarify wording, and correct typographical errors, and correct references to cited regulations.

You may comment on the proposed regulation changes, including the potential costs to private persons of complying with the proposed changes, by submitting written comments to Sally Schlichting, DEC, 410 Willoughby Ave., Suite 303, P.O. Box 111800, Juneau, AK 99811-1800, by facsimile at: (907) 465-5218, or by e-mail to sally.schlichting@alaska.gov.  All comments must be received by 5:00 p.m. on December 19, 2016.  Comments received after this date will not be considered in final action on these rules.

You may submit written questions relevant to the proposed action to Sally Schlichting by email to sally.schlichting@alaska.gov or by mail to Sally Schlichting, DEC, 410 Willoughby Ave, Suite 303, P.O. Box 111800, Juneau, AK 99811-1800.  The questions must be received at least 10 days before the end of the public comment period. DEC will aggregate its response to substantially similar questions and make the questions and responses available on http://dec.alaska.gov/spar/regulation_projects/index.htm and on the State of Alaska’s online public notice website.  The DEC may, but is not required to, answer written questions received after the 10-day cut-off date and before the end of the comment period.

If you are a person with a disability who needs a special accommodation in order to participate in this process, please contact Natalie Wolfe at (907) 269-0291 or TDD Relay Service 1-800-770-8973/TTY or dial 711 no later than December 9, 2016 to ensure that any necessary accommodations can be provided.

A copy of the proposed regulation changes is available on the Alaska Online Public Notice System at http://aws.state.ak.us/OnlinePublicNotices/ or at http://dec.alaska.gov/spar/regulation_projects/index.htm and by contacting Sally Schlichting at the address or email above or by phone at (907) 465-5076.

After the public comment period ends, the DEC will either adopt the proposed regulation changes or other provisions dealing with the same subject, without further notice, or decide to take no action. The language of the final regulations may be different from that of the proposed regulations. You should comment during the time allowed if your interests could be affected. Written comments received are public records and are subject to public inspection.

Statutory Authority: AS 46.03.010, AS 46.03.020, AS 46.03.050, AS 46.03.070, AS 46.03.710

Statutes Being Implemented, Interpreted, or Made Specific:
AS 44.46.020              AS 46.03.380              AS 46.03.822
AS 46.03.020              AS 46.03.405              AS 46.04.020
AS 46.03.050              AS 46.03.710              AS 46.04.070
AS 46.03.070              AS 46.03.740              AS 46.09.020
AS 46.03.365              AS 46.03.745              Sec. 7, ch. 96, SLA 1990
AS 46.03.375              AS 46.03.758