Reversing NJDEP Brownfield Act decision, NJ Appellate Court finds continuity of property ownership t
The New Jersey Appellate Court reversed NJDEP’s denial of Appellant’s request to receive a Hazardous Discharge Site Remediation Fund Innocent Party Grant (innocent party grant) to pay for remediation of Appellant’s Hanover Township property under the Brownfield and Contaminated Site Remediation Act (Brownfield Act). The innocent party grant pays for remediation of contaminated sites if the site owner did not discharge or use any hazardous waste on the site and if the owner “[is a person who] acquired the property … and continues to own the property until such time as the authority approves the grant…” NJDEP denied Plaintiff’s grant request based on the determination that Appellant, Cedar Kno
After 15 years on the Superfund list, the “Oil Lake” Superfund Site located at the Meadowlands in Kearny, NJ received approval for a $24 million EPA cleanup plan exclusively centered on the removal of polluted soil. The plan does not address the contaminated groundwater onsite. According to the EPA, from 1946 to 1979, the Diamond Head Oil Refinery contaminated the site with PCBs, dioxins and VOCs when it routinely “dumped oil into storage pits, onto adjacent properties and in wetlands to create an ‘oil lake.’” Although the Oil Refinery closed more than 25 years ago, it was not put on the Superfund list until 2002, in response to NJDEP’s request. http://www.northjersey.com/story/news/environm