1. (a) The owner or operator shall ensure that soil and groundwater sampling for a release investigation or associated with a corrective action is conducted by a qualified environmental professional in accordance with 18 AAC 78.605 and the UST Procedures Manual.
2. (b) The owner or operator of an offsite or portable treatment facility under 18 AAC 78.273 shall ensure that the collection, interpretation, and reporting of data, and the required sampling and analysis are conducted or supervised by a qualified environmental professional in accordance with the UST Procedures Manual.

3. (c) If a contaminant is suspected at the site because of empirical evidence or prior analysis, but is not detected or is detected at a concentration below the practical quantitation limit, and the practical quantitation limit is higher than the cleanup level for that substance, the department will

   1. (1) determine the owner or operator to have attained the cleanup level, if additionally the more stringent of the following conditions is met:

      1. (A) the practical quantitation limit is no greater than 10 times the method detection limit; or
      2. (B) the practical quantitation limit is no greater than the practical quantitation limit referred to in Table 1 of the UST Procedures Manual; or
   2. (2) as the department determines necessary to ensure protection of human health or safety, or of the environment, require the use of a specialized analytical method to improve the accuracy, precision, method detection limit, or practical quantitation limit for the contaminant.
4. (d) Among the analytical methods set out in Table 1 of the UST Procedures Manual if there is more than one analytical method for a contaminant, an owner or operator may select any of those methods with a practical quantitation limit less than the applicable cleanup level. If only one analytical method has a practical quantitation limit less than the applicable cleanup level, that method must be used. Analysis for petroleum contamination must follow the Alaska methods for petroleum hydrocarbons referred to in Table 1 of the UST Procedures Manual.
5. (e) Laboratory analysis submitted to comply with this chapter must be performed by a laboratory approved under 18 AAC 78.800 - 18 AAC 78.815 for each analyte and matrix analyzed and analytical method used.
6. (f) The owner or operator shall submit the results of the laboratory analyses for samples collected under this chapter and shall include the current state laboratory identification number for the laboratory that performed the analyses.

(Eff. 1/22/99, Register 149; am 6/25/99, Register 150; am 6/17/2015, Register 214; am 7/1/2017, Register 222)

Authority: AS 46.03.020, AS 46.03.745, AS 46.04.070, AS 46.03.740, AS 46.04.020, AS 46.09.020