Qualified Persons  

NOTICE:

As of June 23, 2006, the Contaminated Sites Program (CSP) no longer maintains a list of “qualified” persons. State regulations, in 18 AAC 75 and 18 AAC 78, require qualified person status (see definition below) for those who have direct responsibility for investigation and cleanup at a contaminated site.

For work under Chapter 75 (18 AAC 75, Article 3)

Qualified person status is required to prepare reports or make an interpretation regarding field data, exercise onsite control over all work that requires assessment, investigation, characterization, reporting, or interpretation. This includes:

1. Preparation of site characterization work plans and reports under 18 AAC 75.335 (b)(1) & (c)(1);
2. Supervision of site cleanup activities and preparation of cleanup reports under 18 AAC 75.360;
3. Preparation of final cleanup report and site closure request under 18 AAC 75.380; and
4. Preparation of reports seeking a waivers or modifications of the site cleanup rules under 18 AAC 75.390.

Henceforth, persons conducting assessment and cleanup work under 18 AAC 75 will be requested to provide a statement verifying their qualified status in work plan and report submittals to the Contaminated Sites Program. The Program does not waive its authority to require actual documentation of qualified status and will, at its discretion, request such documentation.

For work under Chapter 78 (18 AAC 78, Articles 2, 6 and 9)

Qualified persons for work on leaking underground storage tanks addressed under these regulations must submit a Qualified Personnel Form (Appendix A of the Underground Storage Tanks Procedures Manual - PDF 713K  or  DOC 2.08M) to the CSP project manager before conducting any work under Chapter 2 of the Manual. (This submittal is not necessary for persons previously listed as qualified.) More information is available on our Leaking Underground Storage Tanks page.

Hiring a Qualified Person

If you are in need of a qualified person to conduct assessment or cleanup at a site, please see our web page, "Selecting an Environmental Consultant" for tips on finding a good contractor.

Definition of a qualified person

In 18 AAC 75. 990 (100), and 18 AAC 78.995 (118): "qualified person" means a person who actively practices environmental science or engineering, geology, physical science, hydrology, or a related field and has the following minimum education and experience:

(A) a bachelor's degree or equivalent from a nationally or internationally accredited post­secondary institution in environmental science or engineering, geology, hydrology, physical science, or a related field; for purposes of this subparagraph, "equivalent" means that the person earned at least 128 semester hours, 168 trimester hours, or 192 quarter hours at an accredited postsecondary institution, and with at least 18 percent of those hours in a science major and at least 13 percent of those hours in upper division-level courses; and

(B) at least one year of professional experience in environmental science or engineering, geology, physical science, or a related field, completed after the degree described in (A) of this paragraph was obtained.