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TRENTON
-- A Superior Court appeals panel has upheld
the State’s assessment of $700,000 in
environmental penalties against an Atlantic
County waste disposal company that opposed
the action as excessive.
In
a decision issued on Monday, a three-judge
Appellate panel ruled that the Department
of Environmental Protection’s (DEP)
imposition of $700,000 in penalties against
Magic Disposal, Inc., of Egg Harbor Township,
Atlantic County, was warranted based on its
review of the “extensive” case
record.
The
Appellate ruling upholds a Final Administrative
Determination from the DEP. That DEP decision
adopted the earlier findings of an Administrative
Law Judge, who presided at a seven-day hearing
focused on charges that Magic Disposal violated
its State-issued solid waste facilities permit
and the New Jersey Solid Waste Management
Act.
In
ruling in favor of the State, the Administrative
Law Judge noted that Magic Disposal’s
president appeared to reject required environmental
safeguards as “unnecessary, excessive
and unimportant. ” The law judge also
observed that Magic Disposal consistently
exhibited “a pattern of defiance rather
than cooperation” in dealing with the
DEP.
This
week, in its decision affirming DEP’s
action, the Appellate panel said it was “struck
by the number of repeat violations of Magic’s
permit,” and that the $700,000 in penalties
was warranted in light of the case record
and “the need for deterrence of others.”
The
Appellate ruling culminates years of litigation
centered on Magic Disposal’s operation
of a trash transfer station on Ridge and Jefferson
Avenues in Egg Harbor Township.
From February 2002 through December 2004,
the operation repeatedly violated Magic Disposal’s
solid-waste permit by bringing in more waste
than allowed and by stockpiling and processing
waste outside the transfer station.
Tons
of waste routinely accumulated in front of
the Magic Disposal facility and throughout
the Magic Disposal property, attracting rats
and creating health and safety hazards. In
addition, the company failed to clear its
floors of waste daily, risking the possibility
of fires sparked by a residual buildup of
heat within certain waste materials.
Magic
Disposal also degraded air quality by failing
to use its air-pollution-control equipment
during operating hours, and failed to maintain
adequate wastewater control, which caused
polluted water to pond in the facility.
In
its appeal of the $700,000 in DEP-imposed
penalties, Magic Disposal argued that “the
events complained of took place at a transfer
station … which has been closed since
2005 with no possibility of reopening.”
The company also claimed that no environmental
or health hazard ever occurred as a result
of its conduct.
The
appellate judges, however, rejected those
arguments and determined that “the record
as a whole supports the determination”
of the DEP.
The
Magic Disposal matter was handled on behalf
of the State by DAG Bruce Velzy, assigned
to the Division of Law’s Environmental
Enforcement and Homeland Security Section.
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