Manko Gold Katcher & Fox
Bruce Katcher
April 8, 2020
In the midst of the COVID-19 crisis, the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP) Site Remediation Program (SRP) published extensive proposed revisions to the remediation standards in the April 6, 2020 New Jersey Register. The proposal can be found here. Generally speaking, the major proposed revisions are as follows:
Manko Gold Katcher & Fox
Thomas M. Duncan
April 8, 2020
The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (PADEP) has established a COVID-19 webpage, which is intended to provide direction to the regulated community during the COVID-19 pandemic. Below is a summary of PADEP’s COVID-19 policies. We will continue to monitor PADEP’s pronouncements and modify this information as it becomes available. Any questions can be directed to MGKF’s Tom Duncan at 484-430-2358. For updates to click here.
Requesting Suspension of a Regulatory or Permit Condition
PADEP has developed a form which can be used to request a temporary suspension of regulatory or permitting requirements based on circumstances relating to the pandemic. Examples may potentially include that a stack test cannot be safely completed because it would require a number of individuals to spend significant time in an enclosed area, or where the regulated entity is unable to provide a hard copy of a required submission.
Smith Currie & Hancock
Ronald G. Robey
March 30, 2020
Introduction. The proverb “may you live in interesting times,” certainly applies today; however, we wish the times were not so interesting. Most contractors are looking to their insurance for possible assistance with the delays, disruptions, and claims arising from the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on current construction projects. This article provides a summary limited to builder’s risk and to general liability coverages as they relate to the pandemic, and a general warning that insurers appear to be adding endorsements to renewals and extensions of builder’s risk and first-party property policies that would retroactively exclude all claims arising from the pandemic.
The Warning. March 31 of every year is a common time for renewal of builder’s risk (including master policies), first–party property, and inland marine policies. It appears that some underwriters are attempting to add an endorsement as part of the renewal process. The potential endorsement is as follows:
Baker & Hostetler LLP
Cory Barnes and Martin T. Booher
April 7, 2020
This was originally published by BakerHostetler’s Environmental Blog on March 30, 2020.
On March 26, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued a memorandum on the “temporary policy regarding EPA enforcement of environmental legal obligations” given the growing impacts of COVID-19. Citing restrictions such as workforce shortages, travel and social distancing restrictions, and the inability of labs to timely analyze samples and provide results, the EPA recognizes the consequences that these restrictions may have on reporting obligations and milestones set forth in settlement and consent decrees as well as other formal or informal reporting and compliance programs. As such, the EPA is temporarily modifying its enforcement discretion policy for noncompliance as described in the attached memorandum. The summary below provides an overview of the key points addressed in the memorandum.
Greenbaum, Rowe, Smith & Davis LLP
Daniel Flynn and Barbara J. Koonz
March 30, 2020
Effective January 21, 2020, New Jersey expanded its A-901 licensing law, originally enacted to keep organized crime out of the state’s solid waste business by requiring an A-901 license for businesses that collect, transport, process, broker, store, purchase, sell or dispose of “soil and fill recyclable material.”
Businesses currently providing “soil and fill recycling services” may continue to provide those services while going through the licensing process but must register with the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP) by April 20, 2020.
If this registration deadline is missed, the business is prohibited from continuing to provide soil and recycling services until it obtains its A-901 license, a process that usually takes at least six months once the fully completed application package has been submitted.