Hear Me Now

Every day, the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (“NJDEP”) makes many decisions which disappoint the agency’s varied stakeholders. The avenues by which parties may be unhappy with NJDEP decisions are seemingly endless. If a party is aggrieved by an NJDEP decision, what options are there? This article will explore some of the possibilities.

Hearings Before an Administrative Case Judge

Under the New Jersey Administrative Procedure Act, N.J.S.A. 52:14B-1 et seq. (the “APA”), whether a hearing before an administrative law judge is available depends upon the status of the aggrieved party. Procedurally, an aggrieved party submits a hearing request to the NJDEP Commissioner’s office. If the Commissioner determines that the petitioner has standing and the request has merit, then the Commissioner will transfer the matter to the Office of Administrative Law to be handled as a contested case before an administrative law judge. A “permit decision” is defined to mean “a decision by a state agency to grant, deny, modify, suspend or revoke any agency license, permit, certificate, approval, chapter, registration or other form of permission required by law” N.J.S.A. 52:14B-3.2. This definition is quite broad and would include most, if not all, public agency decisions.