Readopted Oversight Rules

By: Nate Byrd
Bureau of Field Operations

Procedures for Department Oversight of The Remediation of Contaminated Sites (N.J.A.C. 7:26C et seq.) was recently readopted with revisions and appeared in the New Jersey Register on November 17, 1997. Reflecting the legislative intent for enactment of the Brownfields and Contaminated Site Remediation Act (N.J.S.A.58:10B-1 et seq.), the new rules spell out how the Department allows persons to participate in the cleanup of contaminated sites.

The new one-step Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) application and fixed oversight costs are two of the highlights of the recently revised oversight rules, designed to streamline the contaminated site cleanup process.

Previously, parties interested in signing up for the Voluntary Cleanup Program had to submit a completed MOA application to the Department, then wait one to three weeks for the Department to send out the Agreement for signatures before the MOA could be executed.

Under the new rules, MOAs can be processed in one step. Once the Department determines that an MOA application is administratively complete, the applicant would have a MOA automatically, by rule.

Another feature of the new rule is the setting of fixed costs for Departmental review of preliminary assessment ($250.00) and site investigation reports ($500.00).

As an alternative to entering into a MOA, a fixed cost of $500.00 has been established for the review of remedial action reports covering removal of leaking, underground storage tanks not regulated by N.J.A.C. 7:14B. This alternative is available as long as discharges from these tanks have not impacted groundwater. If groundwater has been impacted, interested parties do not have the fixed cost option and must enter into a MOA. Non-regulated tanks include residential underground heating oil tanks and tanks of 2000 gallons or less capacity, used solely for heating commercial buildings, as well as underground tanks of 1100 gallon capacity or less for storage of motor fuel at a farm or residence and used non-commercially.

Other features of the revised oversight rule include the following provisions:

1. Description of the application process for obtaining financial assistance and grants from the Hazardous Discharge Site Remediation Fund.
   
   
2. Requirement for establishing and maintaining remediation funding sources.
   
   
3. Guidance on obtaining access to sites not owned by the persons conducting site cleanups.
   
   
4. Rules setting forth the civil administrative penalties for violations of administrative orders, administrative consent orders and declarations of environmental restrictions.
   
   
5. New rules on the process to resolve any disputed issues that can not be resolved at the case manager level.

Please note that the aforementioned summary is only an overview of the readopted and revised "Procedures for Department Oversight of the Remediation of Contaminated Sites," as it appeared in the November 17, 1997 edition of the New Jersey Register (the official journal of state agency rulemaking). Copies of the new rule may be purchased through West Group, an official licensed publisher of the Register and the New Jersey Administrative Code, by calling 1-800-808-9378. The full text is also available on the SRP Website at www.nj.gov/dep/srp/regs.