On May 7, 2009, Gov. Corzine signed the Site Remediation Reform Act (SRRA), N.J.S.A. 58:10C-1 et seq., into law. SRRA authorized Licensed Site Remediation Professionals (LSRPs) to conduct environmental remediation with minimal or no New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection oversight as long as LSRPs and Remediating Parties conformed to their statutory obligations. Based on these obligations, Environmental Service Agreements (“ESAs”) proposed by environmental consultants for remediation and due diligence projects need to be revisited. Attorneys representing parties to ESAs should now review the fine print in both existing and new ESAs to address the changes wrought by SRRA. This article addresses four major issues to be addressed as part of a competent review of an ESA. New issues are sure to arise as the implementation of SRRA progresses and interim regulations become final.

Mandatory Time Frames: SRRA obligates the NJDEP to impose mandatory timeframes for every stage of an environmental investigation and cleanup. Although SRRA establishes criteria for the granting of an extension in certain circumstances, it is unclear how the department will exercise its discretion in granting extensions needed due to the delay of a remediating party. Timing constraints should be addressed in the ESA to avoid the looming problem of department oversight.

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