By Michael C. Kondrla | Published August 3, 2016 | Posted in Administrative Law, Environmental & Natural Resources, Environmental Issues, Wetlands | Leave a comment
On May 31, 2016, the United States Supreme Court unanimously held in United States Army Corps of Engineers v. Hawkes Co., Inc. that an Army Corps of Engineers jurisdictional determination (“JD”) is a judicially reviewable final agency action under the Administrative Procedure Act (the “APA”). No. 15-290, slip op., 578 U.S. ___ (May 31, 2016). Read More
Read MoreThe New Jersey Appellate Division recently held that the Commissioner of the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP) properly rejected the findings of an administrative law judge (ALJ) which would have allowed several northern New Jersey sewerage authorities to implement “as needed” treatment programs to limit the phosphorus content of water discharged into state Read More
Read MoreOur legal team at Lieberman Blecher & Sinkevich recently filed a lawsuit and order to show cause on behalf of a landowner on Lake Hopatcong against the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP) and Hopatcong State Park’s proposed drawdown of Lake Hopatcong’s water, scheduled to commence on September 22, 2013. The proposed drawdown would Read More
Read MoreOn April 29, 2013, the New Jersey State Assembly overwhelmingly passed a bill that will have far reaching impacts on administrative law in New Jersey. The bill known as A-1521 would effectively strip certain agency heads of their current veto powers over the decisions of administrative law judges in contested state agency decisions. The bill Read More
Read MoreIn 1987, the New Jersey Legislature passed the Freshwater Wetlands Protection Act, N.J.S.A. 13:9B-1, et seq. (“FWPA”), to protect and regulate New Jersey’s vast sensitive freshwater wetlands. This law followed the Wetlands Act of 1970, N.J.S.A. 13:9A-1, et seq., which delineated and regulated New Jersey’s coastal wetlands. The FWPA established a permitting process which a Read More
Read MoreOn March 21, 2013, an Appellate Division panel upheld the controversial “waiver rule” adopted by the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP) last March. The rule has been promulgated at N.J.A.C. 7:1B-1.1, et seq. An outgrowth of Governor Chris Christie’s effort to reduce bureaucracy and encourage economic growth through application “common sense principles,” the Read More
Read MoreIn a recent environmental case decided by the New Jersey Appellate Division, the court upheld a $20,000 penalty assessment against a leading South Jersey fuel oil company for failing to engage in proper sampling after an underground storage tank containing gasoline was found to have leaked. The appeals court was not persuaded by the responsible parties’ “it’s my Read More
Read MoreLieberman Blecher & Sinkevich was recently retained by a Central New Jersey recycling facility targeted by the County for closure. The County had sought an Order from a Superior Court to shut the facility on the basis that it allegedly posed several environmental risks. In order to prepare for oral argument an Order to Show Read More
Read MoreThe “cap-and-trade” emissions reduction concept is still a relatively recent phenomenon; one that uses free markets to help further the goal of environmental protection. In short, cap-and-trade limits the amount of air emissions that a facility can discharge into the atmosphere. When a facility emits less than its capped amount, it retains “credits” that can Read More
Read MoreThe New Jersey Appellate Division has reversed several severe penalties assessed under the Freshwater Wetlands Act and several related statutes, which were levied against an owner of historic property in Lebanon and Washington Townships in New Jersey. The case, which was initially heard before the Office of Administrative Law, was appealed after the NJDEP Commissioner Read More
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