NJDEP ISSUING REMEDIAL PRIORITY SCORES FOR CONTAMINATED SITES

Very shortly, the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP) will be issuing letters to responsible parties containing a draft Remedial Priority Score (RPS) for their particular site. It is unclear how the rankings will be used, but the RPS system has been described as a tool to sort sites out for further discussion. The Site Remediation Reform Act (SRRA), N.J.S.A. 58:10C-1 et seq. requires NJDEP to establish a ranking system for active remediation sites based on risk to public health, safety and the environment, the length of time the site has been undergoing cleanup, economic impact, and other relevant factors. Thus, the RPS system was designed to utilize the modeling assumptions from a number of existing databases on the 12,000 known contaminated sites in New Jersey. Responsible parties will have sixty (60) days to challenge the ranking by submitting new information or an explanation of why the proposed ranking is inaccurate or fails to account for certain data.

While it is not clear what use NJDEP will make of these rankings, the rankings may potentially be used in analyzing toxic torts, environmental cost recovery cases and property transfers.  The Law Office of Christopher D. Hopkins, LLC is a boutique law firm focused on returning contaminated properties, or "Brownfields," to beneficial use. For more information regarding laws and regulations pertaining to site remediation please contact Christopher D. Hopkins, Esq. at (908) 322-6121 or at chris@chopkinslaw.com .

About The Law Office of Christopher D. Hopkins, LLC

The Law Office of Christopher D. Hopkins, LLC is a boutique law firm located in Scotch Plains, New Jersey committed to providing the highest quality of legal services in the select areas of real estate, land use and environmental law. The firm is committed to working collaboratively with clients to achieve practical, cost effective results- whether it be in complex litigation, transactions, cleanups and/or development projects. The firm provides transactional and litigation counsel to a broad spectrum of clients including private and public corporations, trade associations, nonprofit institutions, banks, real estate investment trusts and individuals in New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania.

Contact Information
The Law Office of Christopher D. Hopkins, LLC
1812 Front Street
Scotch Plains, NJ 07076
TEL: 908.322.6121
FAX: 908.322.5701
Email: chris@chopkinslaw.com

Website http://www.chopkinslaw.com