13-member panel will oversee cleanup of 20,000 sites
The first meeting of the state Licensed Site Remediation Professional Board is scheduled for Monday, setting the stage for the panel to begin work attempting to improving the efficiency of contaminated site cleanups in New Jersey, Environmental Protection Commissioner Bob Martin announced Tuesday.
"The Licensed Site Remediation Professional program is the cornerstone of our efforts to improve the speed and effectiveness of New Jersey's contaminated site cleanup system," Martin said. "Through this new system, cleanups will take place much more quickly and make underutilized properties available more quickly for redevelopment, helping the economy by generating local tax revenues and creating jobs. It's a new way of thinking and doing things that has become necessary because the old system was simply too cumbersome and inefficient."
The DEP has been issuing temporary licenses and performing other work related to phasing in the requirements of the state Site Remediation Reform Act, signed into law last year. The responsibilities Martin said many cleanups have taken too long because the old process emphasized process over results.
More New Jersey households will have the opportunity to abate lead paint found in their homes through changes in the state's Lead Hazard Control Assistance Program, state Community Affairs Commissione...
