Highlands Plan Conformance Guidelines Withstand Challenge

In review of a challenge to municipal petitions for plan conformance under the Highlands Water Protection and Planning Act, the Appellate Division determined that the Highlands Council Water Protection and Planning Council had authority under the Highlands Act to adopt Plan Conformance Guidelines (“PCGs”) as a component of the Highlands Regional Master Plan (“RMP”) to […]

Governor Adopts FEMA Advisory Base Flood Elevation Maps as a DEP Standard

On January 24, 2013, Governor Christie announced that the State is adopting the recently released FEMA Advisory Base Flood Elevation maps as a DEP Standard.  The Governor did this by emergency rule effective immediately.  FEMA expects to proceed with adopting these advisory maps as final maps; however, this process will take 18 to 24 months.  […]

Monmouth County Sewer Service Area Map Open to Public Comment

NJDEP published notice in the January 7, 2013 New Jersey Register of Monmouth County’s proposed adoption of an updated Future Wastewater Service Area (“FWSA”) map that identifies areas in the County to be served by sewage treatment facilities.  The notice and FWSA map can be viewed on the County’s website.  The map was updated on […]

Labor Unions Seek to Overturn “Waiver Rule”

Oral argument was held before a panel of three Appellate Division judges in the case appealing adoption of the NJDEP Waiver Rule.  A group of environmental organizations and labor unions seek to overturn this Department-wide Waiver Rule, which allows NJDEP to grant waivers from its own regulations in certain very limited cases.  The Court reserved […]

DEP Denies Initial Waiver Requests

Since August 1, 2012, the New Jersey DEP has been entertaining applications for relief pursuant to its rules governing the waiver of DEP regulations.  In the first two cases in which DEP has decided waiver applications on their merits, DEP denied both waiver requests. In one case, the applicant sought a waiver from the Filled […]

EPA Backpedals on Stormwater Rule

The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has recently agreed to withdraw its proposal to impose numeric limits on the amount of sediment in stormwater that runs off a construction site.  In December 2009, EPA issued Effluent Limitation Guidelines (ELGs) for the construction and development industry, which established the minimum technology required to control the […]

Court Reaffirms “Reasonable Use Rule”

New Jersey has long followed the “reasonable use rule” in cases where one landowner sues another for diverting or discharging stormwater that allegedly causes flooding.  In the 1956 case of Armstrong v. Francis Corp., the New Jersey Supreme Court held that one owning or occupying land “is legally privileged to make reasonable use of his […]

First Lawsuit Filed Over Gloucester County Train Derailment

On December 6, 2012, Alice Breeman, individually and as guardian for her children, filed suit against Consolidated Rail Corp., Norfolk Southern Railway Co. and CSX Transportation, Inc. in Breeman et al. v. Consolidated Rail Corp., Docket No. 12-07468 (D.N.J. Dec. 6, 2012).  The lawsuit alleges theories of negligence in response to the freight train derailment […]