The New Jersey State Department Of Environmental Protection (NJDEP) has developed a new and more stringent standard for removing chromium waste from contaminated soil.

In a new effort to reduce and thwart the effects of toxic substances within New Jersey soil, sites designated to be developed for housing or educational facilities may not contain more than 20 parts per million of hexavalent chromium.  The previous standard had been 240 parts per million, which is still a safe level according to the NJDEP. However, the less hexavalent chromium present the better. Hexavalent chromium, commonly found where industrial production occurs, is recognized as a human carcinogen. Long term exposure to the compound has been found to cause lung cancer.  The chromium ore waste has been a problem for New Jersey, a large industrial state, for years. The new NJDEP standard would affect 184 sites in Hudson county, once a busy area for chromium ore refineries.  As Hudson county has seen a surge of redeveloment in the recent years, the standard of 20 parts per million in new developments will surely protect the health of current and future residents and the environment.

Newark Mayor Cory Booker plans on adding up to 600 abandoned properties to the tax rolls with a redevelopment plan.  This plan encourages neighborhood revitalization, provides downtown housing, sparks growth in underused areas, creates job opportunities and ultimately improves the quality of life for city residents.

The plan proposed to the city council begins with a list of abandoned properties.  Once identified, the city can make the owners rehabilitate the property or lose it through expedited foreclosure, tax liens or eminent domain.  The city council must approve the plan that will use inspectors from the fire department and neighborhood services to do the surveys because of their inspection power.  Part of the downtown housing plan will revise some zoning regulations thus making it easier for developers to build houses.  The increased housing requires more retail to serve residents and in turn boost job opportunities.

Due to concerns regarding contaminated recycled concrete being reused as fill, the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP) recently issued guidelines that require the characterization, via sampling and analysis, of concrete at all demolition and construction sites overseen by NJDEP’s Site Remediation and Waste Management Program (SRWMP). Concrete sampling and analysis is required when concrete is designated for either recycling or beneficial use. This characterization requirement applies to demolished buildings, concrete roadways and related structures such as sidewalks and curbing, and will have a significant impact on the cost and feasibility of a developer’s concrete reuse and recycling practices.

The NJDEP developed the concrete sampling and analysis guidelines to ensure that concrete which is reused or recycled is free of contamination and will not contaminate otherwise clean properties.

Due to recent contamination findings at a day care facility in Glouster County, New Jersey, the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP) has begun inspecting 1,846 sites throughout the State that are suspected of containing contamination.  These sites were previously removed from the NJDEP list of Known Contaminated Sites, but as a result of the recent day care contamination case, have been reinstated, pending further review. 

Slated for inspection are the over 4,200 day care centers across the state, for any signs of contamination. “We will try to figure out which ones might be near some proximal risk and then go out and take a look at those,” said Irene Kropp, Assistant Commissioner for Site Remediation at the NJDEP.

The New York City Department of Buildings (NYCDOB) has issued new regulations pertaining to notifications to be made pursuant to earthwork permits. An earthwork permit is required for any type of work which consists of altering a foundation, new construction and the excavation and filling of soils or other earthen materials.

Those holding a permit for any type of earth work mentioned above may not begin work unless they notify the Department of Buildings within twenty-four to forty-eight hours before beginning work.  Permit holders must notify the NYCDOB by phone, fax or email and must state the date on which the work will begin.  If beginning work on a holiday or weekend, notification must be made on the last business day before the stated work date.  In the past, permit holders needed to only notify adjoining property owners within five days of start of construction or excavation. The regulation also calls for the permit holder to notify the Department of Buildings if work will not begin as scheduled.  Notification must be made no later than the day originally slated for the work to begin and a new date must be filed following the same guidelines as stated above.

The New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP) recently amended the site remediation Oversight Rule to accelerate the NJDEP review process for sites undergoing remediation.  As part of the newly enacted accelerated review, NJDEP is now requiring strict compliance with all technical and scheduling aspects of the site remediation rules and regulations.  Failure to comply with the strict compliance requirements could result in significant penalties.

While intended to accelerate and streamline the site remediation process, the amended Oversight Rule (commonly referred to as the “Grace Period Rules”) can trigger penalties that were previously rarely assessed by NJDEP.  In a departure from more lenient past procedures, NJDEP issues a Notice of Deficiency (NOD) to an applicant that submits reports that are not in full compliance with the remediation rules and regulations or fails to conduct required work.

On January 11, 2007, Governor Corzine of New Jersey signed into law a requirement that the air quality at new child-care centers built on or near known contaminated sites be monitored prior to receiving a license to operate.  The law specifically requires the New Jersey Department of Health (NJDOH) and New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP) to establish air-quality guidelines for child-care centers, and to ensure that the operators meet the air-quality standards before the facilities are licensed to open.  The air-quality standards also must be met upon renewal of a child-care center license. 

The law will also require, as of June 2007, that all new child-care centers conduct a Preliminary Assessment/Site Investigation (PA/SI) and obtain a No Further Action (NFA) letter from the NJDEP.  For sites that previously contained dry cleaning establishments, drinking water testing and testing of soils in areas where children play is also required under this new measure, due to the possibility that chlorinated solvents from dry cleaning operations may have impacted drinking water and/or soils at the property.

The public can track the latest activity of state environmental investigators through a new information service now available on the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection’s (NJDEP’s) Web site, NJDEP Commissioner Lisa P. Jackson announced today.

“We’ve made it even easier for the public to find out what we are doing in New Jersey’s neighborhoods to make sure the laws and regulations that safeguard public health and our environment are obeyed,” Commissioner Jackson said.  “We believe that the more residents know, the better partners in environmental stewardship they can be.”

New Jersey state auditors have determined during the last 10 years the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP) has failed to collect approximately $10 million in fees assessed to owners of contaminated properties that underwent state monitored cleanups throughout the state.  The properties range from small residential properties to large industrial properties.

In an effort to reform its Site Remediation Program and to collect outstanding fees, the NJDEP plans to send out approximately 5,000 letters to delinquent property owners in early 2007.  Most of the delinquent fees are minor, amounting to less than $1,000.  The fees were assessed for NJDEP oversight of property cleanups.  Some of the fees were assessed as far back as the 1990s, and remain unpaid because the NJDEP did not follow up on initial billings or require payment prior to issuance of a No Further Action (NFA) letter.

New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP) has issued an Enforcement Alert for new record keeping requirements and rules for emergency generators effective March 7, 2007. Any facility that operates an emergency generator with a rated capacity larger then 37 kilowatts (Kw) is affected by these changes even if no air pollution permit is required. A 37 Kw generator is equivalent to 50 horsepower and is typically used as emergency back up power at small businesses.

Any owner or operator of an emergency generator with a maximum rated output of 37 Kw is required to maintain on site a logbook or computer data system with the following records: