Controversial Site Remediation Bill Goes to Gov’s Desk

Today the Senate and Assembly passed S1683 (Smith)/ A5293(Pinkin) with a vote of 36-0 in the Senate and 77-0-1 in the Assembly. The bill concerns regulation of solid waste, hazardous waste, and soil and fill recycling industries. Jeff Tittel, Director of the New Jersey Sierra Club released the following statement:

“We are concerned that the bill sides too much in the direction of the licensed site professionals and not enough on the side of the public. We are seeing problems with the program and the legislation that need to be addressed. If the LSRP do something wrong, whether it was an accident or deliberate, they need to be held accountable. That is why it is critical for an open and transparent process with communication on a clean up plan and its implementation on these sites.

“The bill would cause DEP to give up its authority when cleaning up contaminated sites. On complex sites where there is community interest, there should be an open public process, this includes access to data on contaminates present at the site, the clean up methods and access to all documents. There should also be public meetings. On major contaminates sites, there is no referee if the LSRP does not address the contaminates and the town has no where to go. DEP should be able to step in if the remediation action does not protect health and public safety.

“The people being impacted by the contaminated sites should have at least a say in what is happening to their communities or even their property. We have concerns that when in the process, LSRP picks the remedy, especially when it is a major contaminated site that has a great impact on the communities. What we see in this bill is limiting liability and giving liability relief. We need to make sure there is money going to LSRP and cleanups. What is missing, however, besides transparency, is making sure these sites are appropriately cleaned up.

“We need to look at broader implications for site remediation and the Spill Act. The courts have created loopholes in the Spill Act and limited responsibility for cleanup and allowed for weaker cleanups. Because there are no rules in place, NJ have lost two NRD cases in the last year. Need a rule in place or change the law. We also need to look at programs versus just civil litigation. With dozens of contaminated sites in New Jersey, cleanup needs to be done right and we need to be making more improvements. We ask Governor Murphy to conditionally veto this bill so that the legislature can work towards a site remediation bill provides a transparent and open process to the communities and allows DEP to use their authority when necessary.”