New Jersey Administrative Code › Title 7 - ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION › Chapter 1I - PROCESSING OF DAMAGE CLAIMS PURSUANT TO THE SANITARY LANDFILL FACILITY CLOSURE AND CONTINGENCY FUND ACT › Subchapter 1 - GENERAL PROVISIONS › Section 7:1I-1.5 - Definitions

Current through Register Vol. 56, No. 14, July 15, 2024
The following words and terms, when used in this chapter, shall have the following meanings. Where words and terms are used which are not defined herein, the definitions of those words and terms will be the same as the definitions found at 7:26-1.4.
"Act" means the Sanitary Landfill Facility Closure and Contingency Fund Act, 13:1E-100 et seq.
"Claim" means the claim for damages filed with the Department for recovery from the Fund. The claim includes all documents submitted under this chapter in support of the claim, including without limitation any amendments thereto under 7:1I-3.4.
"Claimant" means the person filing a claim.
"Closure" means all activities and costs associated with the design, purchase, construction or maintenance of all measures required by the Department, pursuant to law, in order to prevent, minimize or monitor pollution or health hazards resulting from sanitary landfill facilities subsequent to the termination of operations at any portion thereof, including, but not necessarily limited to, the costs of the placement of earthen or vegetative cover, the installation of methane gas vents or monitors and leachate monitoring wells or collection systems at the site of any sanitary landfill facility, and the cost of general liability insurance, including environmental impairment liability insurance, or an amount sufficient to create a self-insurance fund as may be determined by the Board of Public Utilities pursuant to section 10 of P.L. 1981, c.306 (13:1E-109 ), to fund potential claims against the owner or operator of the sanitary landfill facility during the closure and post-closure period.
"Commissioner" means the Commissioner of the Department of Environmental Protection.
"Covenant not to sue" means a covenant pursuant to 58:10B-13.1 or 13.2.
"Damages" means and includes, but is not limited to, the following:
1. The cost of restoring, repairing or replacing any real or personal property damaged or destroyed;
2. The diminution in fair market value of any real property where such diminution can be shown by a preponderance of the evidence to have solely resulted from the improper operation or improper closure of a sanitary landfill facility. Any property valuation calculations made for the purpose of this chapter shall expressly take into consideration any and all other factors which directly or indirectly affect the fair market value of the property;
3. The cost of any personal injuries, including any medical expenses incurred and income lost as a result thereof; and
4. The costs of the design, construction, installation, operation and maintenance of any device or action deemed necessary by the Department to clean up, remedy, mitigate, monitor or analyze any threat to the environment and public health, safety or welfare of the citizens of this State, including the installation and maintenance of methane gas monitors and vents and leachate monitoring wells and collection systems, and the sampling and analysis of any public or private potable water supply.
5. Damages do not include legal fees incurred in filing claims or for participation in an administrative hearing or any legal action against the Fund and costs normally associated with the listing, sale and transfer of property which is the subject of a claim. Additionally, damages do not include interest on any monetary award assessed against the Fund.
"Department" means the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection.
"Discovery" means the time at which the claimant discovers, or by the exercise of reasonable diligence and intelligence should have discovered, that he or she has incurred damages.
"Disposal" or "disposed" means the use of the term which is expressly discussed and defined at 13:1E-3.
"Engineering controls" means any physical mechanism defined as such pursuant to the Technical Requirements for Site Remediation, N.J.A.C. 7:26E.
"Final remediation document" means a document defined as such pursuant to the Administrative Requirements for the Remediation of Contaminated Sites rules, at 7:26C-1.3.
"Fund" means the Sanitary Landfill Facility Contingency Fund established pursuant to the Act.
"Government entity" means a governing body, department, agency, authority or any other unit of any Federal, State, county or local government or governments, including without limitation a municipal utilities authority.
"Improper operation" or "improper closure" of a sanitary landfill facility means the operation or closure of a sanitary landfill facility that results in a substantial deviation from applicable operation and closure requirements. A de minimis deviation from such applicable operation and closure requirements shall not constitute grounds for a determination that a sanitary landfill facility is being improperly operated or has at any time been improperly closed. A finding of improper operation or improper closure shall only be made upon the basis of a preponderance of the evidence being introduced by the claimant.
"Institutional controls" means a mechanism defined as such pursuant to the Technical Requirements for Site Remediation, N.J.A.C. 7:26E.
"Notice of Intent," or "NOI," means a notice issued by the Department to a claimant pursuant to 7:1I-5.4, informing the claimant that the Department intends to pay or deny his or her claim.
"Owner or operator" means and includes, in addition to the usual meanings thereof, every owner of record of any interest in land whereon a sanitary landfill facility is located, has been located, had been located or at any time was located, and any person or corporation which owns a majority interest in any other corporation which is the owner or operator of any sanitary landfill facility and every person who operates or operated a sanitary landfill facility at any point in time and every agent or representative of such operator.
"Person" means any public or private corporations, companies, associations, societies, firms, partnerships, joint stock companies, individuals, the United States, the State of New Jersey and any of its political subdivisions or agents.
"Physical intrusion" means the existence of methane gas, leachate or other material emanating from the sanitary landfill facility on or under a claimant's real property.
"Potable water" means drinking water, water for other personal uses, and water for purposes requiring a supply of water which the Department determines is suitable for human consumption pursuant to the Safe Drinking Water regulations set forth at N.J.A.C. 7:10. "Potable water" does not include water for use in fire fighting or for agricultural purposes, or for other non-potable purposes.
"Responsible party" means any person who directly or indirectly contributed at any point in time to the occurrence, event, action or damages upon which any person's claim or other claims are based.
"Sanitary landfill facility" means a governmentally approved solid waste facility at which solid waste is deposited, or has ever been deposited, on or in the land as fill for the purpose of permanent disposal or storage for a period exceeding six months, except that it shall not include any waste facility approved for disposal of hazardous waste.
"Solid waste" means the use of the term which is expressly discussed and defined at 13:1E-3(a).