Environmental law issues often stray outside their lane and permeate into other practice areas. Attorneys concentrating in real estate, commercial transactions, bankruptcy, matrimonial, trusts and estates, and other areas have had this experience. This trend is evident in a review of this year's leading environmental issues.

  1. Case Law

Three recent Appellate Division decisions are noteworthy. In re New Jersey Department of Environmental Protections' Direct Oversight Against Solvay Specialty Polymers (Solvay) arose because of the DEP's 2019 Statewide PFAS Directive and the company's failure to comply with its site-specific timeframes. No. A-0635-20 (App. Div. Jan. 9, 2023). The court found that the DEP's supervisory authority concerning contaminated site remediation included establishing the directive's timeframes and Solvay's failure to comply was a sufficient basis for triggering direct oversight.

In 2020, the DEP amended the PFAS requirements in several of its regulatory programs. 52 N.J.R. at 1165(b). The revisions were challenged and rejected in In re Adoption of Amendments to N.J.A.C. 7:1E, Nos. A-0307-20, A-0308-20 (App. Div. 2023). The Appellate Division found that the DEP's rulemaking complied with the Administrative Procedure Act and that the agency's "decision to adopt the amendments is supported by substantial credible evidence and is not otherwise arbitrary, capricious, or unreasonable."