june 2008

DEP Adopts New Soil Remediation Standards

Effective June 2, 2008, the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) has adopted new soil remediation standards. The new regulations contain residential and non-residential soil remediation standards to be applied to cleanups throughout the state.

The following key provisions of the new regulations should be noted:

DEP can compel a responsible party to perform additional remediation in instances where a standard has been made more stringent by at least an order of magnitude.

Approximately three dozen contaminants for which there were no previous standards will now be subject to DEP regulation. In the event that these contaminants have previously been identified, DEP may require further investigation.

Grandfathering provisions will apply to remedial action workplans and remedial action reports which are compliant with the Technical Requirements for Site Remediation and are submitted to DEP prior to December 2, 2008. In these instances, the soil remediation standards in effect prior to June 2, 2008 may be applied to the site. As an exception, however, if the new standard for a particular contaminant has been made more stringent by at least an order of magnitude, the new remediation standards will apply regardless of grandfathering status.

The impact to groundwater remediation standards included in DEP’s May 2007 proposed regulations have not been adopted. The Department has indicated that its methodology for calculating impact to groundwater standards will be the subject of a guidance document that is to be available within the coming weeks.

If you have any questions concerning soil and impact to groundwater remediation issues or DEP's new regulations, please contact Jay A. Jaffe or Keith P. McManus.