The first major update since 2008 follows stakeholder meetings, public hearing, and an extended comment period during which 270 comments were received

By Paul M. Hauge in Gibbons Law Alert

Via a New Jersey Register notice published on May 17, 2021, the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP) has amended the remediation standards that govern all cleanups in the state. It is the most sweeping revision of the standards since they were first adopted in 2008.

NJDEP proposed the amendments in April 2020 and held a virtual public hearing on July 21, 2020. During an extended public comment period, NJDEP received more than 270 public comments on its proposal. The proposal itself was preceded by a series of stakeholder sessions stretching back to 2014.

The rulemaking makes significant changes to the remediation standards, including:

• The creation of separate residential and non-residential soil remediation standards for the ingestion-dermal and inhalation exposure pathways; formerly, the applicable standard was the more stringent of the two, but now both pathways will need to be considered.
  
• The adoption of new soil remediation standards for the migration to groundwater exposure pathway, replacing the former site-specific approach based on NJDEP guidance with enforceable standards.
  
• The adoption of new standards for soil leachate (for the migration to groundwater exposure pathway) and indoor air (for the vapor intrusion exposure pathway); the vapor intrusion standards replace the former screening levels based on NJDEP guidance.
  
• The tightening of some standards and the loosening of others.
  
• The creation of new standards for some contaminants (e.g.,1,4-dioxane and extractable petroleum hydrocarbons) and the elimination of other standards that could no longer be…

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