ELR Citation: ELR 21269
No(s). s. A-0473-86T7, A-6188-86T7 (N.J. Super. Ct. App. Div. May 24, 1988)

The court holds that the operator of an industrial plant built over a closed solid waste landfill must conduct a surface cleanup under the New Jersey Environmental Cleanup Responsibility Act (ECRA). The plant is an "industrial establishment" under ECRA that must be cleaned up prior to closure or transfer. The plant does not qualify for ECRA's exclusion for facilities, such as solid waste landfills, that are subject to the closure requirements of the New Jersey Solid Waste Management Act. That the plant is located on top of a closed solid waste landfill does not make the plant part of the landfill or bring it within the ECRA exclusion. The plant was built on the land surface covering the closed landfill and was thus never a physical part of the landfill. The New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection did not act arbitrarily and capriciously in determining that the surface of the landfill is not part of the landfill, since the plant was built on top of the material used to cover the landfill.

Counsel for Appellant
David L. Menzel, Michael Dore, Martha N. Donovan
Stryker, Tams & Dill
33 Washington St., Newark NJ 07102
(201) 624-9300

Counsel for Respondent
Paul H. Schneider, Deputy Attorney General
Department of Law & Public Safety
8th Fl., Justice Complex, Trenton NJ 08625
(609) 292-8740

Before Judges J.H. COLEMAN, O'BRIEN, and HAVEY.