The Site Remediation Reform Act of 2009 (SRRA) completely altered the site remediation process in New Jersey. A majority of properties undergoing remediation will now be required to be cleaned up by private licensed remediation professionals regulating themselves through a licensing board rather than having the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) overseeing such cleanups. One particular change that the SRRA brought concerns properties that contain historic fill.
Historic fill is nonindigenous material, deposited to raise the topographic elevation of a site, which was contaminated prior to emplacement and is in no way connected with the operations at the site. Historic fill typically includes construction debris, dredge spoils, incinerator residue, demolition debris, fly ash or nonhazardous solid waste. Certain geographic areas in New Jersey are known to contain historic fill, such as the major cities of Newark and Jersey City. New Jersey law recognizes that property owners in the historic fill cities did not bring the historic fill onto the site themselves. Therefore, state law does not require property owners to excavate and dispose of contaminated historic fill. However, property owners are not permitted to knowingly leave the historic fill in place without implementing certain “controls.”
