Gibbons Law Alert

Gibbons Law Alert

Tagged: Spill Act

NJDEP Site Remediation Implements Steps to Increase Permit Efficiency

by

Posted in Development/Redevelopment / Environmental and Green Issues

On February 3, 2011

One perennial criticism leveled at the Department of Environmental Protection (“NJDEP”) is that it takes too long to issue permits. There have been a long list of initiatives intended to ensure that the NJDEP makes permit decisions which are predictable and timely. Indeed, Commissioner Martin has repeatedly commented on the need to ensure that NJDEP perform efficiently and focus on servicing all stakeholders – including applicants, and included this goal in his 2010 Vision Statement for the department. At long last, NJDEP appears to be taking concrete steps to implement efficiencies in the permit process. On January 27, 2011, NJDEP announced that it would begin to tackle this problem by changing the way it processes the most common land-use permits for contaminated sites and landfill closures.

USEPA Soliciting Comments on Guidance for Institutional Controls

by

Posted in Environmental and Green Issues

On December 20, 2010

Institutional controls, regulatory limits on human activity at a site, go by many names. The Department of Defense uses the term “land use controls.” ASTM E2091-00 has elected to use the phase “activity and use limitations.” Traditional real estate lawyers often think in terms of “covenants” or “easements.” Here in New Jersey, the Site Remediation Program uses the term “Deed Notice,” while the Freshwater Wetlands Permit Program has adopted the term “Conservation Restriction or Easement,” N.J.A.C. 7:7A-1.4. Whatever name they go by, institutional controls are intended to regulate human behavior and are used to supplement environmental remediation efforts by reducing the risk of unintended exposure to residual contamination. As a result, institutional controls are critical to the redevelopment of contaminated real estate and cost-effective clean-ups.

What is NJ’s LSRP?

by

Posted in Environmental and Green Issues

On November 9, 2010

After over a year since its creation, the nature of New Jersey’s Licensed Site Remediation Professional (LSRP) is still unclear. The program, signed into law in May 2009, removes the responsibility for oversight of clean-ups of contaminated sites from the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP) to a cadre of licensed privately paid professionals. NJDEP will retain direct oversight of more complex sites and will resume direct oversight of LSRP sites under certain circumstances. It will take some time for the kinks in the program to be worked out. Depending on who you speak to, the view of what the LSRP is differs.

In Rare Application of Waiver Doctrine, Federal Court Holds That New Jersey Gave Up Right to Seek Natural Resource Damages at Contaminated Site

by

Posted in Environmental and Green Issues

On October 13, 2010

It is difficult for a defendant to avoid a claim by invoking the doctrine of waiver, which requires proof of a clear, unequivocal act showing that the plaintiff deliberately intended to relinquish a known legal right. It is doubly difficult when the plaintiff is the State of New Jersey, against which the application of the doctrine is, in the words of a leading Supreme Court case, to be “most strictly limited.”

NJDEP Proposes Relief From Site Remediation Reform Act Requirements

by

Posted in Environmental and Green Issues

On October 7, 2010

On October 4, 2010, the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP) formally proposed revisions to the Site Remediation Reform Act’s (SRRA) interim rules. The revisions impact two important components of the interim rules: remediation deadlines and vapor intrusion investigations. These technical amendments are based upon stakeholder input and are intended to reduce the burden on the regulated community and New Jersey’s newly minted Licensed Site Remediation Professionals (LSRPs).

NJDEP and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day – Trial Judge Rejects NJDEP’s Approach to Natural Resource Damages

by

Posted in Environmental and Green Issues

On July 29, 2010

New Jersey’s Natural Resource Damage (“NRD”) program is cobbled together from an aging policy directive issued in 2003, an Appellate Division decision, NJDEP v. Exxon Mobil Corporation, [393 N.J. Super 388 (App. Div. 2007)] and a handful of lower court rulings on various and sundry motions. There is no specific enabling statute and the agency has never adopted any formal regulations. In short, it’s the type of program which is bound to leave the regulators, the regulated community (and the lawyers who advise them) with plenty of questions. Because there are no clear rules, New Jersey’s NRD program has generated a significant amount of litigation.

The Licensed Site Remediation Professional: Friend or Foe?

by

Posted in Environmental and Green Issues

On December 28, 2009

November 3 marked the launching of the Licensed Site Remediation Professional (“LSRP”) program in earnest. On that date, all new remediation projects in New Jersey must be performed under the supervision of an LSRP, a new type of environmental professional mandated by the Site Remediation and Reform Act (“SRRA”). L. 2009, c. 60, Sections 1-29 (codified at N.J.S.A. 58:10C-1 to -29).

Connect:

About Gibbons

With 200 attorneys, Gibbons is a leading law firm in New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Washington, DC, and Florida, ranked among the nation’s top 200 by The American Lawyer. More…

Subscribe

Archived Blog Posts

Categories