Environmental

The New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) recently amended several of its environmental regulations. The changes will have a profound impact on contaminated site remediation projects in New Jersey.

The Murphy Administration is taking an aggressive approach to environmental enforcement actions involving contamination. For the first time in a decade, the state has filed lawsuits seeking to recover natural resource damages.

Community solar is one way that the State of New Jersey plans to meet its clean energy goals. Under the Community Solar Pilot Program, customers of an electric public utility could participate in a shared solar energy project that is remotely located from their properties, but is within their utility service territory, and obtain a credit to the customer's utility bill equal to the electricity generated that is attributed to the customer's participation in the solar energy project. The program would permit each customer to participate in a solar energy project with a capacity of five megawatts or less.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is moving forward with its rewrite of the Clean Water Rule. The agency recently sent its proposal to redefine “Waters of the United States” (WOTUS) to the White House Office of Management and Budget for review. 

The New Jersey Senate recently advanced legislation that aims to address the state’s aging stormwater systems, which are designed to prevent runoff from causing pollution and flooding. The bill, Senate Bill No. 1073, would authorize municipalities and counties to establish stormwater utilities, which could then assess fees on property owners.

EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt announced the agency's plans to take steps in regulating the levels of PFAS in drinking water, which are also known as PFCs.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is creating a new national system for tracking hazardous waste shipments electronically. The system, known as e-Manifest, is expected to launch on June 30, 2018. Regulated entities, including hazardous waste generators, transporters, brokers, and receiving facilities, should be preparing to comply with the new requirements.

The landmark tax reform law signed by President Donald Trump may make environmental settlements more expensive for New Jersey businesses. Under the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017, it will be more difficult to deduct settlement payments made to federal, state or local governmental entities.

New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy recently signed an offshore drilling ban that aims to protect New Jersey’s shorelines, as well as the tourism industry that depends on it. The legislation was prompted by the Trump Administration’s plan to open much of the East Coast for oil exploration.

In his last days in office, Gov. Chris Christie signed legislation that may make it more difficult for New Jersey entities to obtain financial assistance for the remediation of contaminated sites from the Hazardous Discharge Site Remediation Fund (HDSRF).

The U.S. Department of Environmental Protection (EPA) is requesting comments on its previous statements regarding the Clean Water Act (CWA). The specific issue is whether pollutant discharges from point sources that reach jurisdictional surface waters via groundwater or other subsurface flow that has a direct hydrologic connection to the jurisdictional surface water may be subject to CWA regulation.

The New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP) recently updated the soil remediation standards for 19 contaminants to reflect U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) revisions to the toxicity criteria for these compounds. The updated soil remediation standards took effect on September 18, 2017.