Governor Corzine Signs Bill Allowing Private Professionals to Oversee Site Cleanups
By: Henry T. Chou, Esq.
In a highly anticipated move, Governor Corzine signed the "Licensed Site Remediation Professional" (LSRP) bill into law this morning. The legislation - based on a successful model developed by the State of Massachusetts - creates a 13-member board comprised of public and private representatives that licenses professionals to oversee site cleanups that are currently under the jurisdiction of New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP).
The impetus for the bill was the massive backlog of contaminated sites in need of remediation, combined with NJDEP's inability to reduce the backlog due to lack of staff and resources. Governor Corzine signed the bill over the protests of the environmental community, which was concerned that licensed private professionals could be influenced by developers who paid their fees. Ultimately, however, the interests of the public won out, as the urgent need to clean up 20,000 contaminated sites in the State outweighed the speculative concerns of the environmental lobby.
NJDEP is currently drafting regulations to implement the program, and will shortly begin the process of licensing professionals to participate in the program.