Conservative surge

Christie’s election represents the high water mark of an informal group of conservative activists who began meeting regularly at the Empire Diner in Parsippany eight years ago.

The Tuesday Group began its lunch sessions in 2002, which could be considered the nadir of the conservative movement in New Jersey. But several activists became inspired and puzzled that year by staunch conservative E. Scott Garrett’s election to Congress despite the state’s Democratic tilt. They began holding occasionally contentious discussions about how to replicate the Garrett model elsewhere in blue Jersey.

Two Tuesday Group alums, former Jersey City Mayor Bret Schundler and Sussex County freeholder Harold “Hal” Wirths, are joining Christie’s cabinet, Schundler as education commissioner and Wirths as labor commissioner. And the meetings’ once-sparse attendance has been replaced by standing-room-only crowds.

“We’re ecstatic,” said Alan Ashkinaze, a Hackensack lawyer and one of the group’s founders.

Bob Martin, a Hopewell Township business executive, will be nominated by Chris Christie to serve as commissioner of the Department of Environmental Protection.  Martin is a retired partner with Accenture and worked with the Christie campaign and transition team on energy and environmental policies during his race for governor.

Martin will replace Mark Mauriello, who has been serving as commissioner for more than a year after his predecessor Lisa Jackson was tapped to head the federal Environmental Protection Agency.

A Republican, Martin ran for state Senate in Mercer County in 2007 but lost to Democratic-incumbent Shirley Turner. 

“Commissioner of the Department of Environmental Protection is one of the most important roles in any administration. The Department’s large workforce, and the fact the Department’s actions impact business and individuals in so many ways mean a successful Commissioner must bring a diverse skill set with them to Trenton,” said CIANJ President John Galandak.  ”Bob’s experience as a manager of a large organization and his environmental experience will serve him well, and CIANJ looks forward to working with him.”

On May 7, 2009, Governor Jon Corzine signed the Site Remediation Reform Act, N.J.S.A. 58:10C-1 et seq. (“SRRA”) into law. The Governor also signed Executive Order #140, implementing the new law.

SRRA establishes a whole new regulatory scheme for site remediation.
The NJDEP Site Remediation website, /www.state.nj.us/dep/srp/srra/  is an excellent resource for understanding this new program. The below excerpt from the NJDEP website provides a summary of the major changes to the state’s site remediation program:

“Under SRRA, NJDEP approval is no longer required prior to proceeding with remediation. Implementation of SRRA will therefore result in contaminated sites being cleaned up more quickly, thus providing a greater measure of environmental protection to the citizens of New Jersey and ensuring that development of underutilized properties are returned to the tax rolls more quickly.

Some of the highlights of the law are:

The establishment of a Licensed Site Remediation Professional (SRP) program and an LSRP Board that issues licenses to qualified individuals to conduct the remediation of sites in New Jersey. The Licensed Site Remediation Professionals (LSRPs) are bound by a strict code of ethics, violation of which could result in the assessment of penalties as well as suspension or revocation of their licenses. When the Act becomes fully effective in 2012 all remediating parties must use the services of a LSRP and must proceed with the clean up of their site without prior NJDEP approval.

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An affirmative obligation now exists on persons to remediate any discharge for which they would be liable pursuant to the Spill Compensation and Control Act. As such, the voluntary cleanup program which utilized Memoranda of Agreement (MOAs), no longer exists.

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The Act requires the NJDEP to phase in implementation of the use of LSRPs by remediating parties. All parties initiating remediation after November 3, 2009 or who opt into the use of the LSRP paradigm will be required to follow the provisions of SRRA which are codified at N.J.S.A. 58:10B-1.3b 1-9, including the requirement to hire a LSRP to conduct the remediation, and the requirement to remediate the site without prior NJDEP approval. All parties who initiated remediation prior to November 3, 2009 will not be required to hire a LSRP to conduct the remediation right away. Remediation of those sites will follow the remediation process with traditional NJDEP oversight and approvals until 2012. All parties remediating sites on or after May 7, 2012 will be required to follow N.J.S.A. 58:10B-1.3b 1-9.”

If you have questions about how New Jersey’s SRRA will impact your property, feel free to contact me.