NJDEP SRP - SRP Annual Report 1998

Governor Phil Murphy • Lt. Governor Tahesha Way

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SRP Publications Annual Reports 1998

I. Introduction (cont.)

98 SRP ANNUAL REPORT

Direct billing and cost recovery increase in State Fiscal Year 1998

NJDEP collected more than $31.5 million from private parties in State Fiscal Year 1998, a 31 percent increase from the previous year. These monies were collected either through cost recovery actions for publicly funded cleanup projects or through direct billing for Department oversight costs on current privately funded remedial activities.

Cost recovery occurs after a publicly funded cleanup when NJDEP seeks to recoup past costs from a responsible party. NJDEP also recovers its oversight costs when a responsible party conducts and pays for a cleanup with Site Remediation Program approval. Similarly, when a party undertakes a voluntary cleanup, often as part of a redevelopment project, and seeks the Site Remediation Program's input, the costs to the program are recovered.

The Site Remediation Program uses a semiannual billing cycle to recover its oversight costs from private parties conducting remedial activities. This shifts the burden of paying NJDEP's administrative costs to review and approve investigation and cleanup reports from New Jersey taxpayers to responsible parties or developers. In State Fiscal Year 1998, responsible parties and other private parties conducting voluntary cleanups paid more than $14.5 million for NJDEP oversight costs through direct billing. This amount reflects a 22 percent increase from the previous year that can be attributed to increased activity in NJDEP's popular Voluntary Cleanup Program.

Cost recovery efforts occur within NJDEP's Site Remediation Program and Division of Law in the Department of Law and Public Safety using the authority provided by the state's Spill Compensation and Control Act. The Site Remediation Program is responsible for negotiating with responsible parties to attempt to reach settlements of outstanding cleanup costs, thus avoiding costly litigation. The Site Remediation Program reached $1.1 million in settlements with responsible parties for past NJDEP cleanup costs in State Fiscal Year 1998.

When an agreement cannot be reached, DOL is requested to initiate legal action to effect an appropriate settlement or undertake litigation to recover the costs. DOL's actions to recover NJDEP's costs in State Fiscal Year 1998 resulted in recovery of more than $15.9 million, an increase of 51 percent from the previous year. Several recent settlements warrant individual mention and are presented below. Also, a more recent and historic settlement involving the Chemical Control Corporation Superfund site in State Fiscal Year 1999 has been specially noted on page eight.

Helen Kramer Landfill — This federal court suit was settled by a group of allegedly responsible parties agreeing to pay the state $9.8 million for past remedial costs and the federal government more than $95 million for its substantial share of past cleanup costs. Furthermore, the parties have agreed to continue to operate ground water/leachate and methane gas treatment systems at the site as well as maintain its cover and fencing. These long-term actions, projected to require another 26 years of operation and maintenance, will save the state about $1.5 million a year, or $39 million over time. The parties also agreed to pay the state $190,000 in natural resource damages and acquire 151 acres of land for preservation as a natural habitat in the Township of West Milford, thus replacing wetlands lost at the landfill. First instituted in 1989, this settlement resulted in recovery of more than 90 percent of the state's past and future costs and nearly 80 percent of the federal government's past costs.

High Point Landfill — A group of potentially responsible parties and insurers agreed to pay the state about $1.9 million for past costs, bringing the total recovered for this site to $3.1 million. The parties also agreed to perform some additional required cleanup work and assume operation and maintenance work, for an anticipated future savings to NJDEP of $1.4 million.

Cleaveland Industrial Center — NJDEP received a payment of more than $4.5 million from the site owner and its insurer to pay for past and future remediation of this site. In addition, NJDEP still maintains a lien on the property. The Site Remediation Program recently began a Remedial Investigation into soil and ground water contamination at this site after completing installation of a large water line extension project to provide area residents with a public water supply as an alternative to private wells that were threatened by pollution from this site.

Record Settlement for Chemical Control Cleanup

Photo Description: NJDEP Commissioner Robert C. Shinn Jr. and Deputy Attorney General Francine Kaplan display the record cost recovery check at a December 1998 press conference in the State House.

NJDEP and the Attorney General's Office received a record-setting $17.4 million in December 1998 from more than 200 allegedly responsible parties for the Department's past costs associated with cleaning up the Chemical Control Corporation site in Elizabeth. This represents the largest cost recovery settlement in the history of the New Jersey Spill Fund, which was established in 1977. Nearly $22 million of the $26 million NJDEP spent at the site has now been recovered, with $4.1 million previously received from allegedly responsible parties. This settlement reached through negotiation rather than litigation brings closure to one of the most notorious environmental disasters in the state's history. The Chemical Control hazardous waste treatment facility caught fire in April 1980, requiring the largest NJDEP emergency response action and subsequent cleanup ever carried out under the Spill Compensation and Control Act. The Spill Act provides funds for cleanups and the legal means to recover the state's costs from those responsible for polluting the environment.

Record Settlement for Chemical Control Cleanup

Responsible parties complete $85 million in cleanups under NJDEP oversight

Under the state’s Voluntary Cleanup, Underground Storage Tank and Industrial Site Recovery Act programs, NJDEP approved $85 million in final cleanups by responsible parties in State Fiscal Year 1998, with No Further Action designations issued for all sites involved. The nationally acclaimed Voluntary Cleanup Program provided oversight at cleanups completed worth $40.4 million. The Underground Storage Tank program oversaw final cleanup actions totaling $19.9 million, with an additional $8.4 million in cleanups approved after responsible parties conducted the work without NJDEP oversight. The Industrial Site Recovery Act Program approved cleanups worth $16.2 million after providing direct oversight and $165,000 in cleanups performed without prior NJDEP involvement. The regulated community reports these monetary amounts to NJDEP each year.

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