Bill to Overhaul New Jersey's Site Remediation Program Passes Both Houses
Monday, March 16, 2009

MEMORANDUM

TO: Members of the New Jersey Senate

FROM: Christina M. Genovese, Manager, Government Relations

RE: S-1897 (Smith)

Site Remediation Reform and Licensed Site Professional Bill

DATE: March 16, 2009

The Chamber of Commerce Southern New Jersey would like to express our support for the Site Remediation Reform and Licensed Site Professional Bill, S-1897 (Smith). The Chamber’s members include companies that own and/or operate facilities at properties undergoing cleanups, businesses seeking to purchase or sell Brownfield properties and consultants and contractors hired to perform the work necessary to complete cleanup activities and prepare the required reports documenting their efforts.

The Chamber believes that the current Site Remediation Program is broken and needs to be fixed. We applaud the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP) for setting up a Stakeholder process to study the reasons why and to develop suggested reforms. We also appreciate Senator Smith and Assemblyman McKeon taking the initiative to propose much needed reform legislation and Governor Corzine’s support of moving ahead with the current remediation program’s overhaul.

The Chamber has reviewed the most recent version of the bill and is supportive of many of the changes that have been made. However, we would like to respectfully offer the following suggestions on how this legislation can be improved further:

• Section 27 - The circumstances under which NJDEP "shall" undertake direct oversight still a concern. For example, a single failure to meet a mandatory timeframe triggers mandatory NJDEP direct oversight.

• Section 27 also continues to require a feasibility study, allows NJDEP to select the remedy, and requires the establishment of a remediation trust fund for any site subject to direct oversight. The Chamber believes these are still troublesome provisions in the legislation.

• Section 28 - The bill would require NJDEP to set mandatory time frames for each phase of a remediation. It is unclear why this requirement is necessary. NJDEP already specifies how long a party has to complete its work in responding to NJDEP comment letters and NJDEP already requires the inclusion of schedules in all submittals. If this is requirement is kept in the bill, a requirement for NJDEP to respond to submittals in a mandatory time frame should also be included.

The Chamber appreciates the opportunity to express our position on this important piece of legislation. We respectfully encourage you to vote “yes” on S-1897 (Smith).