NJDEP Schedules Public Hearing, Finalizes Comment Due Date for Proposed Revisions to Soil Remediation Standards; Leaves Site Remediation Fees Unchanged for FY2021
COVID-19 Update
Proposed Soil Remediation Standards
As summarized in our April 8 Special Alert, NJDEP proposed major revisions to the Site Remediation Program’s Soil Remediation Standards in the April 6, 2020 New Jersey Register. The proposal can be found here. Because of uncertainty associated with the COVID-19 pandemic, NJDEP delayed scheduling of the public hearing on the proposal until recently. That hearing is now scheduled to take place virtually on Tuesday, July 21, 2020, at 10:00 am using Microsoft Teams. A link to the hearing will be provided by the Department on its website at https://nj.gov/dep/srp/regs/rsrp.html. Those who want to testify orally must register by emailing the Department at barry.frasco@dep.nj.gov no later than 12:00 pm Monday, July 20, 2020 with their name, organization, telephone number and email address. The written comment period will remain open until August 4, 2020.
The deadline for comments, originally June 5, 2020, was already extended once by 60 days. A number of organizations representing regulated entities have requested either a stay of the proposal or an additional 60-day extension of this deadline in light of the Department’s failure to have provided the public with a number of key documents and other information underlying the development of the proposed changes which are necessary to evaluate the proposed changes. For now, the dates remain as per the above.
No Changes to Site Remediation Fees for FY2021
In another action stemming from the COVID-19 pandemic, NJDEP has temporarily suspended the rule that requires the agency to annually recalculate the Site Remediation Reform Act fees (e.g., annual remediation fee, individual document review fees, remedial action permit fees). Rather, the fees for FY2020 will also apply for FY 2021. Those fees may be found here.
Please contact Bruce Katcher (484-430-2320), John Gullace (484-430-2326) or Nicole Moshang (484-430-2324) with questions of a legal nature or our technical consultants Darryl Borrelli (484-430-2302), Mike Nines (484-430-2350) or Will Hitchcock (484-430-2356) with questions of a technical nature.
