N.J. will privatize toxic-site cleanups

New Jersey will overhaul a troubled state program to clean up toxic-waste sites by allowing licensed private consultants hired by polluters to both determine how to clean up the properties and certify they are safe, under a controversial bill signed into law by Gov. Corzine yesterday.

The law revamps the overburdened Site Remediation Program of the Department of Environmental Protection. The program, which has been described as broken by state officials and lawmakers, has a backlog of about 20,000 contaminated sites, ranging from homeowners' leaky oil tanks to Superfund sites.

The governor also signed a related executive order yesterday that, among other steps, strengthens the role of the DEP in some cases. The order requires the DEP to increase its oversight at certain sensitive sites, including land that may be used for housing, schools, day-care facilities, playgrounds or athletic fields.

Corzine said the new law and the executive order "will cut though the bureaucracy to streamline the cleanup process and allow more than 19,000 contaminated sites to be evaluated more quickly."

Modeled after a program in Massachusetts, the law allows parties responsible for cleaning up polluted sites - in some cases the polluters themselves, in other cases property owners who have inherited the responsibility - to hire licensed consultants for the cleanup work.

The administration proposed the program as a way to clean up sites faster and return them to tax rolls while limiting the expense to taxpayers.

Supporters say the law would establish mandatory time frames for cleanups for the first time, and hold environmental consultants to higher standards. The law provides enforcement actions to be taken against consultants who violate state law.

Proponents say the law will expedite cleanups at thousands of sites across the state, helping the economy and the environment.

"The licensed site professional program is exactly the kind of forward-thinking problem-solving we need in New Jersey," said Philip Kirschner, president of the New Jersey Business and Industry Association. "It harnesses the resources of the private sector in a way that will provide a tremendous benefit to the public, both in cleaning up polluted properties and stimulating the economy."

Assemblyman Albert Coutinho (D., Essex) said the law would help the state's site-remediation program operate more efficiently.

"Licensed professionals will take over many of the more time-consuming functions that have boggled down the DEP," Coutinho said.

Environmentalists, who have opposed the bill from the start, say the executive order did not go far enough.

Dave Pringle, campaign director of the New Jersey Environmental Federation, said the executive order was "a tacit admission of the bill's flaws, but it doesn't fix those flaws."

Environmentalists pushed for but did not receive several measures, such as requiring polluters to have an escrow account or insurance, increasing the number of toxic sites over which the DEP would maintain control, and prohibiting polluters and consultants from engaging in pay-to-play.

"This bill will leave a polluted legacy throughout New Jersey," said Jeff Tittel, director of the New Jersey Sierra Club. "Contaminated sites will only look clean on paper, but we'll be leaving toxic time bombs to be discovered by future generations."

The Sierra Club believes the bill is unconstitutional and says the DEP should be able to choose how the sites are cleaned up. Tittel said the group plans to legally challenge the measure.

The bill drew bipartisan support in the Legislature with only a handful of opponents.