NJDEP will delay full implementation of its new program to address natural resource damages ("NRD") for some time. In June 1999, Riker Danzig presented a panel on NJDEP's new NRD program. NJDEP staff from the Office of Natural Resource Damages ("ONRD") described the new program, which incorporates NRD assessment and restoration into the site remediation process under the agency's Technical Requirements for Site Remediation ("Tech. Regs.") and requires NRD to be considered at sites that impact groundwater, wetlands, sediments, surface water, flora or fauna.
At our panel discussion, NJDEP indicated that the new NRD program would likely be implemented as a full-scale pilot project - and would potentially be applied to every site remediation conducted under the Tech. Regs. - in Fall 1999. Subsequently, NJDEP finalized additional amendments to the Tech. Regs. that relate to NRD (See page 4). Riker Danzig has learned, however, that the agency will delay full implementation of the program probably until some time in the year 2000. The decision to delay implementation of the new program follows key meetings in the late summer/early fall among agency personnel and management and business and elected representatives. In addition, a lawsuit brought by an industry coalition to challenge the agency's NRD program is still pending in the Appellate Division.
Currently, NJDEP's ONRD is addressing NRD associated with oil spills, Superfund sites, and State cost-recovery cases. ONRD also will address and resolve NRD at any site if the responsible party voluntarily decides to address NRD. It is not clear at this time, however, when NJDEP will seek to fully implement its new NRD program at all sites under the Tech. Regs. One question that remains open is whether and, if so, how, NJDEP will address NRD in No Further Action letters issued by the agency prior to full implementation of the new NRD program. Riker Danzig will continue to monitor and report on the status of NJDEP's NRD program.
