2025 CCNJ Regulatory Successes

Throughout 2025, CCNJ participated in various regulatory efforts across different programs within the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP), ensuring that our members’ concerns were documented.  We contributed to and worked with other business & industry organizations on comment letters and stakeholder activities advocating for improvements for the regulated community.  Though final NJDEP actions did not always align with our arguments and recommendations, CCNJ’s level of engagement never wavered, both leading up to the adoption of regulations and after via further expression of concern and clarification requests.  Below are just a few highlights of what CCNJ has been involved in on the regulatory front this past year.
 
Site Remediation 
Following a robust legislative effort with Senator Bob Smith and submission of significant comments on the NJDEP’s initial rule proposal related to the Site Remediation Reform Act (SRRA) 2.0 law, most proposed amendments were adopted on November 17, 2025, with a couple exceptions.  One exception was related to conducting remediation and all appropriate inquiry and resulted in a Notice of Proposed Substantial Change based on feedback provided by CCNJ and others.  Our other comments mainly focused on the NJDEP’s new Remedial Action Permit (RAP) paradigm.  Given the 90-day delayed implementation date for these RAP amendments, the NJDEP will be offering training in February 2026 that we will be involved in to hopefully gain more clarity to share with members. 
 
Water
The NJDEP’s past Groundwater Quality Standards (GWQS) rule proposal demanded a lot of time and effort from CCNJ to coordinate with technical consultants and members in submitting a very thorough set of comments.  Following the February 3, 2025, adoption of this rule proposal that updated GWQ Criteria (GWQC) and Practical Quantitation Limits (PQLs) for 73 constituents, we sent a letter to NJDEP Commissioner Shawn LaTourette to reiterate our comments specifically regarding the PQLs and analytical laboratories, while also addressing their responses to some of our arguments. 
 
CCNJ remained focused on advocating for the New Jersey Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NJPDES) industrial surface water permit fee restructuring.  In addition to providing comments on the FY2025 report and continuing our outreach to Commissioner LaTourette, we formally submitted a letter to Governor Murphy to strongly urge the administration to move forward in making these fee calculations more predictable and equitable.  We explained the current self-fulfilling process of meeting NJDEP budget requirements, discussed our many past meetings in an attempt to address this issue (followed by the repeated delays), and shared our previous comments.
 
Related to the Surface Water Quality Standards (SWQS) rulemaking that we continue to monitor and is expected to update numbers for 94 toxic substances and propose new numbers for 1,4-dioxane, PFNA, PFOA, and PFOS, CCNJ submitted a letter to the NJDEP on January 24, 2025, regarding a troubling issue that the regulated community was facing, and will continue to face. 
 
At that time, delegated local agencies (DLAs) were recommending that certain NJPDES permitted facilities that discharge wastewater to them regularly sample and analyze for 14 different PFAS.  The DLAs’ reasoning behind this request was anticipation of the NJDEP’s SWQS rule adoption.  We highlighted situations where these facilities are receiving influent directly from a water provider or adjacent water body that is already in exceedance of these PFAS levels, and their operations are not contributing any PFAS prior to the water being discharged to the effluent. 
 
Air/Waste
On June 16, 2025, the NJDEP published their Discharges of Petroleum and Other Hazardous Substances (DPHS) rule adoption with non-substantial changes; however, proposed amended and new requirements related to nominal concentration of hazardous substances in a mixture and a climate resiliency (CR) plan were not adopted.  Along with other items of concern, CCNJ specifically opposed these sections of the rule.  We stated that the immediate revocation of previously issued nominal concentration approvals is unwarranted as there is no justification provided.  Regarding the CR plan requirement, we highlighted the fact that there would be a substantial learning curve for consultants to navigate and familiarize themselves with the website and draft this new document and urged the NJDEP to seriously consider other less costly/duplicative and more effective methods to promote this awareness.
 
Pursuant to the “Dirty Dirt” legislation, the NJDEP published a rule proposal on January 21, 2025 that would expand the A-901 licensing program to the soil and fill recycling industry.  They are proposing to amend various definitions (including “broker” and “consultant”) to align with the law, and also add exclusions, disclosure requirements, and fees/penalties.  Though CCNJ did not submit comments in response to this rulemaking, we remain involved in and supportive of a business & industry coalition focused on Dirty Dirt.  This group most recently worked on a “clean-up” bill, which we shared with members for review and feedback.
 
Land Use
Following the 2024 publication of the New Jersey Protecting Against Climate Threats (NJPACT)  Resilient Environments & Landscapes (REAL) rule proposal, which was one of the lengthiest NJ rulemakings covering 17 different regulations in response to climate change impacts, the NJDEP published a Notice of Proposed Substantial Changes on July 21, 2025.  This Notice did not address CCNJ’s previously submitted clarification requests so we will be monitoring the progress of this rulemaking for these responses.  We raised concerns about such things as “nature-based solutions”, various permitting changes, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) National Flood Insurance Program requirements, deed notices, and the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) Flood Design Classes.  Similar to Dirty Dirt, we did not submit comments on the Notice of Proposed Substantial Change, though we are engaged with a business & industry coalition leading the NJPACT REAL effort.
 
If you have any questions about CCNJ’s regulatory advocacy or anything reported in this article, please contact Sam Jones.