NJ Spotlight: Christie Advancing DEP Waiver Plan

By Tom Johnson, NJSpotlight.com

The adoption of the rule comes a year after the DEP first proposed the measure, spurred by an executive order from Gov. Chris Christie soon after taking office. It is touted by advocates as a way of making the state more business friendly without compromising environmental protections.

Its critics dispute that view, arguing the rule will undermine tough environmental regulations put in place over the past three decades, as well as likely leading to an avalanche of lawsuits.

“They’ve opened themselves up to a tremendous amount of lawsuits, and losing lawsuits at that,’’ predicted Sen. Bob Smith (D-Middlesex), the chairman of the Senate Environment and Energy Committee. 

The agency would be allowed to consider a possible waiver of a regulation only if it met one of four special conditions: if it conflicted with other state or federal rules; if it were unduly burdensome; if there would be a net environmental benefit; or, if there were a public emergency.

“A lack of flexibility can sometimes produce unreasonable, unfair or unintended results that actually undermine the goal that the requirement was intended to attain,’’ said DEP Commissioner Bob Martin, who signed the rule. “This provides us with a modest measure of flexibility to manage special circumstances but through a process that will be used under limited circumstances and with total transparency.

The rule, Martin added, is part of the governor’s effort to implement a “common sense’’ approach to government reform. Some of the strongest advocates of the rule were local government officials who complained of inflexibility in the agency’s rules, Martin said.

But critics argued the rule is written so broadly it will allow politically connected developers to push through projects that would be a detriment to the environment.

“This rule is an attack on environmental protection and will open up New Jersey’s regulatory system to pay-to-play. This is one of the worst rules ever adopted in the state,’’ said Jeff Tittel, director of the New Jersey Sierra Club.

The DEP said the waiver process will be transparent, with all applications and actions posted prominently on the agency’s website. It will not begin accepting applications for waivers until August 1 of this year.

In the first six months of its application, Martin said he would review all the waiver requests that come through, although he conceded he did not know what the volume would be.

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