Gibbons Law Alert

Gibbons Law Alert

Tagged: Wetlands

Landmark Flood Disclosure Bill Now Law in New Jersey, Applies to Both Commercial and Residential Property

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Posted in Development/Redevelopment / Environmental and Green Issues / Transactional Real Estate and Leasing

On August 9, 2023

On June 30, 2023, the New Jersey General Assembly unanimously passed Bill S3110/A4783, which will require sellers of real property and landlords to make specific disclosures regarding a commercial or residential property’s flood risk. The bill was amended to concur with the recommendations of Governor Murphy’s May 8, 2023, Conditional Veto Statement and was enacted into law upon passage. New Jersey was previously one of less than half of the states in the country that did not require any flood disclosures for real estate transactions. Landlord & Seller Flood Disclosure Requirements Specifically, Senate Bill No. 3110 requires landlords and sellers of commercial or residential real property to disclose to prospective tenants and buyers if a property is located in an area designated by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) as a Special Flood Hazard Area (known as the 100-year flood plain) or Moderate Risk Flood Hazard Area (known as the 500-year flood plain), and if the property has suffered flood damage in the past to the owner’s knowledge. Sellers are also required to disclose additional facts related to the property’s flood insurance and flood damage history. Additionally, landlords are required to notify tenants of the possible availability of flood insurance via the National Flood Insurance Program. The New Jersey Department of Community Affairs (NJDCA) is...

U.S. Supreme Court Significantly Limits Scope of Federal Government’s Jurisdiction Under the Clean Water Act

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Posted in Environmental and Green Issues

On June 6, 2023

On Thursday, May 25, 2023, the U.S. Supreme Court handed down a decision in Sackett v. EPA, a closely watched case concerning the jurisdictional reach of the federal government’s ability to regulate sources of pollution under the Clean Water Act (CWA). Specifically, the Court addressed the test for determining whether wetlands are “waters of the United States” within the scope of the CWA. The CWA prohibits the discharge of pollutants into “navigable waters,” which the CWA defines as “the waters of the United States.” The definition has been the subject of numerous cases and interpretations, most recently in the 2006 Supreme Court decision in Rapanos v. United States, which created multiple tests for what constituted “waters of the United States.” The majority in Sackett has created a single, much narrower test. The background of Sackett v. EPA dates back to 2007, when plaintiffs Michael and Chantell Sackett began backfilling their property with dirt and rock, about 300 feet from Priest Lake. The Sacketts received a notice from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), which instructed the Sacketts to stop work because of the presence of wetlands protected by the CWA, which bars the discharge of pollutants, including rocks and sand, into “waters of the United States.” The EPA reasoned that the wetlands on the Sacketts’...

2023 Is Shaping Up to Be a Big Year for the Clean Water Act and Its “Waters of the United States”

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Posted in Environmental and Green Issues

On April 17, 2023

In January, the Biden Administration promulgated the federal government’s latest rule defining “waters of the United States” (WOTUS Rule). The WOTUS Rule, which defines the waters that are subject to federal permitting and oversight under the Clean Water Act (CWA) by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), went into effect on March 20, 2023. As with past attempts to define “waters of the United States,” the new WOTUS Rule is already triggering legal challenges. Since the enactment of the CWA in 1972, courts, agencies, and landowners have struggled to define the statute’s geographic scope, especially with respect to wetlands, which do not fit neatly within familiar notions of “water” or “land.” The statute prohibits unpermitted discharges of pollutants (including fill material) into “navigable waters” but defines that term broadly as “the waters of the United States, including the territorial seas.” The Biden Administration’s WOTUS Rule replaces the Trump Administration’s Navigable Waters Protection Rule (NWPR), which was promulgated in 2020 but subsequently vacated by two federal district courts. The NWPR followed the Trump Administration’s 2019 repeal of a 2015 Obama Administration rule (the 2015 Clean Water Rule) that had taken a categorical approach to defining “waters of the United States.” The Biden Administration’s WOTUS Rule seeks to return to...

Back to the Future, or Forward to the Past? EPA and Army Corps of Engineers Release New Clean Water Act New Rule Revising Definition of “Waters of the United States”

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Posted in Environmental and Green Issues

On January 13, 2023

Ever since the enactment in 1972 of the modern Clean Water Act (a comprehensive amendment of the 1948 Federal Water Pollution Control Act), courts, agencies, and landowners have struggled to define the statute’s geographic scope, especially with respect to wetlands, which do not fit neatly within familiar notions of “water” or “land.” Landowners often confront this issue because the statute prohibits unpermitted discharges of pollutants (including fill material) into “navigable waters,” but defines that term broadly as “the waters of the United States, including the territorial seas,” which includes some, but not all, areas that scientists would deem to be wetlands. In December, the U.S. Environmental Protection (EPA) and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (Corps) released the latest chapter in this five-decade-long saga, in the form of a new 514-page rule defining “waters of the United States” (WOTUS). The rule was officially promulgated via publication in the Federal Register on January 18, and will become effective 60 days later. The new WOTUS rule is the product of a rulemaking process spurred by a January 2021 executive order signed by President Biden that directed all agencies to review regulations and take appropriate action to address those that might conflict with policies of science-based decision-making. (86 Fed. Reg. 7037 (Jan. 25, 2021)). It replaces the Trump...

USEPA Provides Draft Guidance on Application of “Functional Equivalent” Analysis for Clean Water Act Permitting Program

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Posted in Environmental and Green Issues

On December 16, 2020

The United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) issued a Draft Guidance Memorandum regarding how to apply the Supreme Court’s most recent Clean Water Act decision in County of Maui v. Hawaii Wildlife Fund from earlier this year. In that case (which we previously wrote about here and here), the Court held that the Clean Water Act Section 402 National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) program requires a permit where there is a “functional equivalent of a direct discharge” from a “point source” into “navigable waters.” As the USEPA draft guidance notes, the Court’s decision outlines “seven non-exclusive factors that regulators and the regulated community may consider in determining whether a “functional equivalent of a direct discharge” exists in a particular circumstance. The draft guidance aims to place the functional equivalent standard “into context within existing NPDES permitting framework.” Additionally, the draft guidance “identifies an additional factor” relevant to the analysis. The draft guidance emphasizes that the County of Maui decision did not modify the two threshold conditions that trigger the requirements for a permit. These conditions are that there must be an actual discharge of a pollutant to a water of the United States, and that that discharge must be from a point source. “Instead, Maui clarified that an NPDES permit is required for only...

Jordan Asch to Participate in Upcoming NJSBA Panel Discussion – “Resolving Everyday Environmental Problems” – November 5

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Posted in Environmental and Green Issues

On October 29, 2020

Jordan M. Asch, an Associate in the Gibbons Environmental Department, will participate in an upcoming panel discussion presented by the New Jersey State Bar Association, in cooperation with its Environmental Law Section. The panel, “Resolving Everyday Environmental Problems,” will take place virtually on Thursday, November 5 from 9:00 – 10:30 am. The discussion will cover some of the complex, and often expensive, environmental issues that small businesses and homeowners may face, including site remediation issues, funding sources, environmental permitting, and the permitting process. Attorneys who represent small business owners that own or lease real property, or that may develop or improve real property, as well as homeowners that may face environmental remediation or permitting issues are encouraged to attend. For additional information or to register, click here.

No Need to Wait: Supreme Court Permits Judicial Review of Wetlands Jurisdictional Determinations

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Posted in Environmental and Green Issues

On June 7, 2016

As we reported, four years ago, in Sackett v. EPA, the U.S. Supreme Court held that a recipient of a compliance order from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for allegedly illegal filling of wetlands could directly challenge the order in court, and did not have to wait until EPA filed a lawsuit to enforce the order before obtaining judicial review of its validity. In a recent opinion the Court extended the rationale of Sackett and again lowered the threshold of judicial reviewability, holding that a landowner can seek judicial review of a mere determination by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (Corps) that its property contains wetlands whose filling would require a permit under the Clean Water Act.

Turnpike Authority is Not a “Local Government Unit”: Tax Court

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Posted in Environmental and Green Issues

On October 28, 2014

All politics, the saying goes, is local. Not so with government, according to a recent decision from New Jersey’s Tax Court. In an opinion that teaches more about legislative drafting than it does about tax policy, the court in New Jersey Turnpike Authority v. Township of Monroe parsed a complex definition of “local government unit” in the Garden State Preservation Trust Act (GSPTA). It held that the New Jersey Turnpike Authority did not come within that definition, and thus could not claim that status to obtain an exemption from roll-back taxes on a parcel it purchased in 2009.

New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection Proposes New Rules Aimed at Streamlining Coastal Permitting Process

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Posted in Environmental and Green Issues

On June 23, 2014

On June 10, 2014, the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (“DEP”) introduced a series of proposed technical revisions to land use rules — via a 1,055 page proposal — designed to encourage redevelopment in coastal areas decimated by Hurricane Sandy. DEP Commissioner Bob Martin — who also served on Governor Christie’s Red Tape Review Commission, which was launched in 2011 to streamline regulatory processes across state government — explained that “[t]hese revisions will add clarity to our regulatory processes and provide better predictability in the regulatory process.”

EPA and Army Corps Propose to Clear the Mud Stirred Up by Rapanos

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Posted in Environmental and Green Issues

On April 2, 2014

In 2006, the U.S. Supreme Court created great confusion in Rapanos v. United States over what wetlands fell within the coverage of the Clean Water Act (CWA) by setting out two separate tests for jurisdiction, one in the four-justice plurality opinion led by Justice Scalia, and one in a separate concurrence by Justice Kennedy. In an attempt to resolve the confusion, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Army Corps of Engineers jointly released a draft rule. The rule is intended to clarify what streams and wetlands are covered by the Clean Water Act.

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