Retention of Licensed Site Remediation Professionals Under the Site Remediation Reform Act

Enactment of the Site Remediation Reform Act (“SRRA”) in May 2009 (codified mainly at N.J.S.A. 58:10-C) effected a “sea change” in New Jersey site remediation. The object of this article is to explain why this new statute will require close attention to the retention agreement between the “person responsible for conducting the remediation” (“PRCR”) and a newly created class of state licensees called “Licensed Site Remediation Professionals” (“LSRPs”), and suggests some issues which should be addressed in such an agreement.

Until the passage of the SRRA, most remedial measures had to await New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (“DEP”) final approval. This caused a build-up of existing cases. Prospects for reducing that backlog were minimal. The SRRA seeks to alter that calculus. First, the SRRA creates an affirmative duty to remediate hazardous material discharges without awaiting DEP approval. Second, it substitutes LSRPs (environmental professionals who meet specific experience, educational and, ultimately, examination criteria) for DEP in most cases. Under the SRRA the LSRP, rather than DEP, will make remedial decisions and issue the final remediation approval document, now called a “Response Action Outcome” (“RAO”). Persons initiating remediation after November 4, 2009, must retain an LSRP and, with some exceptions, those cases extant before then must transition to an LSRP by May 2012.