Businesses are going to see meaningful changes to New Jersey’s regulatory system and see them quickly, according to top members of Governor Chris Christie’s Red Tape Review Group.

The bipartisan group, which has spent 90 days reviewing New Jersey’s regulatory system,  will release its report April 19 .

Speaking April 6 at a New Jersey Business and Industry Association briefing, Lt. Governor Kim Guadagno, State Senator Steven Oroho, and Assemblymen John Burzichelli and Scott Rumana said the State will become an easier place in which to do business. 

Guadagno told the audience that the report would recommend eliminating 8,000 civil service classifications and 200 of the State’s 700 independent boards and commissions.

It would also recommend pushing what should be local regulation issues back to the towns and counties. Guadagno cited a multi-million dollar project in Wildwood that has been held up for five years because it lacks two parking spaces.

The report would also recommend streamlining the State’s rule-making process to make it easier to change proposed regulations based on public comment.

NJBIA’s Capitol Memo reported today that the legislative members of the Red Tape Review Group echoed Guadagno’s sentiments.

Burzichelli, chairman of the newly formed Assembly Regulatory Oversight Committee, said he was particularly concerned about the use of guidance documents by the NJ Department of Environmental Protection. The documents are supposed to give applicants compliance advice, but often they are enforced by agency officials as if they had the force of law. 

"People (at the DEP) were essentially setting up a second tier of regulations," Burzichelli said.

Burzichelli is sponsoring legislation, A2464,  that would clarify that guidance documents are voluntary. The measure has passed the Assembly.  He also is the sponsor of A2486 , a bill that  that would limit the circumstances under which a State agency could adopt regulations or standards that exceed comparable federal standards.

Oroho pointed out that regulations have a direct impact on the State’s private-sector economy. He noted there are 26,000 pages of regulations in New Jersey, all of which have a five-year sunset provision so they can be periodically reviewed to determine if they are still needed. Yet, almost no regulations ever go away; they simply keep being renewed.

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New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP) Commissioner Bob Martin told lawmakers on Monday that, while the environment is still Mission #1, he sees a second, important role for the agency—helping to revitalize the state’s economy.
In testimony before the Assembly Budget Committee, Martin said he’s planning to name a new Assistant Commissioner for Economic Growth and Green Economy.  Among other duties, that person will oversee a new “one-stop-shop” for businesses and individuals seeking environmental permits.

The change comes in response to the business community’s experience of the DEP as the place where permits go to die. Or, at least, to languish for periods so long  that the original business opportunity that prompted the application is lost.
This way of conducting state business has been just fine with a number of environmental groups who cling to the sophomoric notion that all business is evil and all growth is sprawl.
But it’s had the unintended (to be charitable) consequence of  discouraging businesses from expanding in New Jersey. In some cases, frustrated business owners have chosen to abandon New Jersey altogether, moving their operations (and tax revenues and jobs) to more business-supportive states, like Pennsylvania.   Martin’s efforts to “change the culture” at the DEP were generally applauded by members of the Budget committee, Republicans and Democrats alike. One legislator confessed to once flirting with the idea of  moving his own business out of state. 

We checked yesterday with the DEP’s Press Office and learned that Commissioner Martin is “considering several strong candidates” for the Assistant Commissioner’s post and is expected to announce his selection in a couple of weeks. ————————————————————————– Our most recent posts:
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One of the environmental priorities of NJ Gov. Chris Christie’s administration is to get thousands of contaminated sites across the state restored to productive uses (not to mention to the tax rolls).

DEP Commissioner Bob Martin says the best vehicle for this is the state’s new Licensed Site Remediation Professional program (LSRP) which shifts greater responsibility for the remediations from state regulators to licensed engineering consultants.

Although the program is still in its early implementation stage, more than 300 consultants already have been issued temporary LSRP licenses by the DEP and 400 more are in the queue.

 Guest blogger, Nicholas De Rose, was an early advocate of the LSRP program. Nick offered legislators and staff with his practical perspective as the legislation that created the program went through numerous amendments on its way to adoption.


Nick is Senior Principal at Langan Engineering and Environmental Services, Inc. and serves as president of the
NJ Licensed Site Remediation Professionals  Association.

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What do you want from New Jersey’s LSRP program?

One of the realities for anyone who is looking to takes sides, pro or con, regarding New Jersey’s Licensed Site Remediation Professionals (LSRP) program is that if they are honest in their analysis, they will find that the LSRP Program and the regulatory reforms of the Site Remediation Reform Act (SRRA) provides something for each stakeholder with an interest in New Jersey’s Remediation Program.  Unfortunately, the outcome of this ‘King Solomon’ approach is that while the LSRP baby has been claimed by its rightful guardians, there are many who have not accepted this reality. Change can be frightening and from many conversations I have had with folks in Massachusetts, the transformation to their Licensed Site Professional (LSP) program was also characterized by an initial period of fear, uncertainty and politicizing.   Since we are not inventing the wheel in New Jersey, we have been able to incorporate many lessons learned in Massachusetts to ensure that New Jersey’s LSRP Program will be a success.   New Jersey’s LSRP program is also going to be successful because it offers bona fide improvements for every stakeholder.  Which leads me back to my original question – “What do you want from New Jersey’s LSRP Program?”
Increased environmental protection?  It’s here.  Had anyone heard of regulatory or mandatory time frames in the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection’s (NJDEP) remediation program before the Site Remediation Reform Act (SRRA) of 2009?  The answer has to be a resounding “No.”  With the passage of the SRRA – all cleanups in the State must move ahead – there is no longer   the option of moving along voluntarily.  We also have new regulations that rightfully prioritize addressing Immediate Environmental Concerns (IEC).  These two reforms alone under SRRA will result in more cleanups being done then ever before.  Furthermore, resources are now being prioritized to address IEC conditions that pose unacceptable risk.  (Note: in fact NJDEP has established IEC levels based on chronic risk exposure in many cases – rather than acute exposure.  Something that one can argue should be corrected to ensure that the public is not misinformed regarding their actual risks.)
Changes to NJDEP’s overly prescriptive regulatory process?  Yes, concerns in this key area from responsible parties representing New Jersey’s businesses and corporations as well as from environmental professionals were heard.  Both groups recognize that spending available resources on long term studies can sometimes be wasteful with no added protection to New Jersey’s citizens and the state’s environment.  While NJDEP initiated many remediation policies that led the United States in the early days of the field of remediation, an argument can be made that over the last 15 years, NJDEP has stopped progressing in the scientific field of remediation.  As an example of this, there is very little discussion in New Jersey’s Technical Requirements for Site Remediation (N.J.A.C. 7:26 E) regarding the use of the Conceptual Site Model (CSM). 

 The CSM uses terms such as ‘source’, ‘exposure pathway’ and ‘receptor’ and the application of the CSM is one of the most effective ways to ensure that risks to human health and the environment are properly assessed and communicated.  This approach supports identifying appropriate remedial goals for cleanup rather than prescribing detailed methodologies which should be left to the Professional Judgment of the LSRP.   In order to support the new regulatory framework of the LSRP Program, SRRA mandates changes to NJDEP’s regulatory framework and establishes a stakeholder process for the development of technical guidance.   With the formation of the LSRP Steering Committee initial steps toward these changes are underway.
An expedited cleanup process to support economic development?  In addition to ensuring that cleanups would progress by establishing mandatory time frames, the establishment of LSRP Program brings to bear additional personnel to oversee remediation cases that have been otherwise stagnant due to overwhelmed NJDEP case managers and staff.  For Brownfields developers, the ability to move cleanups along expeditiously is worth real dollars as “time is money”.  And for the environment, moving quickly is an effective way to increase restoration of contaminated soil and ground water.  Once these concepts were understood and properly conveyed in SRRA, the legislation was approved in both New Jersey’s Senate and Assembly with overwhelming bipartisan support. I congratulate our leaders in the legislature, NJDEP and the Christie Administration for supporting the LSRP program.   To NJDEP Commissioner Martin I would like to emphasize the need to appoint the LSRP Licensing Board as the critical next step towards ensuring program success. I would also like to acknowledge those with informed moderate perspectives from all stakeholders including environmental professionals, attorneys, business organizations, community organizations and environmental organizations.  And as a reminder, there were important reasons for the inclusion of a three year transition period in SRRA before the establishment of the final LSRP Program.   This transition period presents the opportunity for constructive input and dialog to ensure success which appears to also be necessary to overcome unrestrained and often misinformed or blatantly self serving speculation.   I look forward to continued dialog and for the opportunity to share my views on the LSRP Program as we move forward. Nicholas De Rose, L.S.R.P. 
Senior Principal, Langan Engineering and Environmental Services 
President, NJ Licensed Site Professionals Association
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Residential development trends in New Jersey, Philadelphia and elsewhere demonstrate a notable rebound for urban centers.

In its latest Future Facts, New Jersey Future reports that:

• Between 1990 and 1995, New York City accounted for 15 percent of the residential building permits issued in its larger metropolitan area. Between 2003 and 2008, however, it averaged 48 percent of the metro total.
• Philadelphia’s share of its metropolitan area’s building permit activity jumped from a mere 3 percent to 13 percent between the same two time periods. In 2008 alone, Philadelphia accounted for 16 percent of total metropolitan building permits, retaining its improved stature even in the face of the real estate downturn.
• The eight "urban centers" identified by New Jersey’s State Development and Redevelopment Plan (Newark, Jersey City, Paterson, Elizabeth, Trenton, Camden, New Brunswick and Atlantic City) accounted for only 3 percent of residential building permits issued statewide between 1990 and 1995-but jumped to 14 percent of those issued between 2003 and 2008.

New Jersey Future analyzed municipal building permits and found that the resurgence of construction in already-developed places:

”… was most dramatic in what can be thought of as the North Jersey "urban core": Hudson, Essex, Union and Bergen counties, plus the lower neck of Passaic County (everything from Wayne east) and Middlesex County north of the Raritan River. This group of counties and county segments more than doubled its share of statewide building permits, from 16 percent in the 1990-1995 period to 34 percent in 2003-2008.

“Not coincidentally, Hudson, Union, Passaic and Middlesex were four of the six fastest-growing counties between 2008 and 2009, a position in which these counties had not found themselves in years-or, in some cases, decades.”

The smart-growth organization says the trend makes it clear that it’s time for “ New Jersey state agencies and municipal governments to realign their growth policies to make redevelopment the default development pattern for the future.”

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