Bill Text: NJ A2042 | 2024-2025 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Requires owner or operator of industrial establishment applying for de minimis exemption from "Industrial Site Recovery Act" to certify as to no actual knowledge of contamination exceeding remediation standards.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)
Status: (Introduced) 2024-01-09 - Introduced, Referred to Assembly Environment, Natural Resources, and Solid Waste Committee [A2042 Detail]
Download: New_Jersey-2024-A2042-Introduced.html
STATE OF NEW JERSEY
221st LEGISLATURE
PRE-FILED FOR INTRODUCTION IN THE 2024 SESSION
Sponsored by:
Assemblywoman ELIANA PINTOR MARIN
District 29 (Essex and Hudson)
SYNOPSIS
Requires owner or operator of industrial establishment applying for de minimis exemption from "Industrial Site Recovery Act" to certify as to no actual knowledge of contamination exceeding remediation standards.
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
Introduced Pending Technical Review by Legislative Counsel.
An Act concerning site remediation and amending P.L.1993, c.139.
Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:
1. Section 9 of P.L.1993, c.139 (C.13:1K-9.7) is amended to read as follows:
9. The owner or operator of an industrial establishment may, upon submission of a written notice to the department, transfer ownership or operations or close operations without complying with the provisions of section 4 of P.L.1983, c.330 (C.13:1K-9) if :
a. the owner or operator certifies to the department that the owner or operator does not have actual knowledge of any contamination at the industrial establishment above remediation standards; and
b. the total quantity of hazardous substances and hazardous wastes generated, manufactured, refined, transported, treated, stored, handled, or disposed of at the industrial establishment at any one time during the owner's or operator's period of ownership or operations:
[(a)] (1) does not exceed 500 pounds or 55 gallons;
[(b)] (2) if a hazardous substance or hazardous waste is mixed with nonhazardous substances, the total quantity in the mixture does not exceed 500 pounds or 55 gallons; or
[(c)] (3) if, in the aggregate, hydraulic or lubricating oil, does not exceed 220 gallons.
(cf: P.L.1993, c.139, s.9)
2. This act shall take effect immediately.
STATEMENT
This bill would provide that the owner or operator of an industrial establishment applying for a de minimis exemption from the "Industrial Site Recovery Act" (ISRA), P.L.1993, c.139 (C.13:1K-9.7), would be required to certify to the Department of Environmental Protection that the owner or operator does not have actual knowledge of any contamination at the industrial establishment above remediation standards.
Under current law, the owner or operator of an industrial establishment may apply for an exemption from the investigatory and remedial requirements of ISRA that apply when transferring or closing an industrial establishment, if the owner or operator's use of
hazardous substances at the site never exceeded certain de minimis levels. The department adopted rules at N.J.A.C. 7:26B-5.9 requiring that an owner or operator who applies for this de minimis exemption must also provide the department with a certification that the industrial establishment is not contaminated above remediation standards. However, in a decision issued on July 6, 2012, the Appellate Division of the Superior Court held that the requirement for such certification was without sufficient legislative authorization and therefore invalid.
This bill would establish the invalidated regulatory requirement as a matter of law by expressly providing that, in order to qualify for the de minimis exemption from ISRA, the owner or operator of an industrial establishment would be required to certify to the department that the owner or operator does not have actual knowledge of any contamination at the industrial establishment above remediation standards.
