Bill Text: NJ A2912 | 2024-2025 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Requires continuing identification and remediation of waste tire sites.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)
Status: (Introduced) 2024-01-09 - Introduced, Referred to Assembly Environment, Natural Resources, and Solid Waste Committee [A2912 Detail]
Download: New_Jersey-2024-A2912-Introduced.html
STATE OF NEW JERSEY
221st LEGISLATURE
PRE-FILED FOR INTRODUCTION IN THE 2024 SESSION
Sponsored by:
Assemblyman GARY S. SCHAER
District 36 (Bergen and Passaic)
SYNOPSIS
Requires continuing identification and remediation of waste tire sites.
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
Introduced Pending Technical Review by Legislative Counsel.
An Act concerning waste tires, and amending and supplementing P.L.2004, c.46.
Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:
1. (New section) Any person responsible for the accumulation of waste tires at a site shall remove and properly dispose of the waste tires and bring the site into compliance with P.L.1970, c.39 (C.13:1E-1 et seq.), any other applicable laws, and any rules and regulations adopted pursuant thereto.
2. Section 4 of P.L.2004, c.46 (C.13:1E-225) is amended to read as follows:
4. a. (1) There is established in the Department of Environmental Protection a Local Tire Management Program for the proper cleanup of abandoned tire piles and to provide grants to counties and municipalities for proper cleanup of abandoned tire piles within their respective jurisdictions.
(2) The department shall develop as part of the program a recurring process to identify illegal waste tire sites as the tires accumulate. The process shall include, but need not be limited to, on an annual basis, the inspection of junk yards, previously remediated sites, other sites where there has been an accumulation of waste tires in the past, and the collection of information from local government officials and the public concerning possible illegal waste tire sites.
(3) No more than one year after the date of enactment of P.L. , c. (C. ) (pending before the Legislature as this bill), and annually thereafter, the department shall prepare and issue a written report on the status of the Local Tire Management Program, including, but not limited to, the process and plans used by the department to identify waste tire sites, the number and extent of waste tire sites identified and cleaned up, the amount expended by the department for the program, and the sums recovered for the cleanup. The report shall be posted on the department's Internet website and submitted, pursuant to section 2 of P.L.1991, c.164 (C.52:14-19.1), to the Legislature.
b. The department may enter any property, facility, premises or site for the purpose of conducting inspections, sampling of soil or water, copying or photocopying documents or records, and otherwise determining if tires may be illegally accumulated.
c. The department shall recover to the use of the Tire Management and Cleanup Fund from the site owner or the person responsible for the accumulation of tires at the site, jointly and severally, all sums expended from the fund to manage tires at an illegal waste tire site, except that the department may decline to pursue such recovery if it finds the amount involved too small or the likelihood of recovery too uncertain.
d. The department may impose a lien on the real property on which the waste tire site is located equal to the estimated cost to bring the tire site into compliance, including attorney's fees and court costs. An owner whose property has such a lien imposed may release that property from a lien claimed under this subsection by filing with the clerk of the Superior Court a cash or surety bond, payable to the department in the amount of the estimated cost of bringing the tire site into compliance with department rules, including attorney's fees and court costs, or the value of the property after the abatement action is complete, whichever is less.
e. This section [does] shall not limit the use of other remedies available to the department.
f. The Commissioner of the Department of Environmental Protection may adopt any rules and regulations necessary for the implementation of this section.
(cf: P.L.2004, c.46, s.4)
3. This act shall take effect immediately.
STATEMENT
This bill would require any person responsible for the accumulation of waste tires at a site to remove and properly dispose of the waste tires and bring the site into compliance with the "Solid Waste Management Act," any other applicable laws, and any rules and regulations adopted pursuant thereto. The bill would also require the Department of Environmental Protection to develop as part of the Local Tire Management Program a recurring process to identify illegal waste tire sites as the tires accumulate. The process would be required to include, on an annual basis, the inspection of junk yards, previously remediated sites, other sites where there has been an accumulation of waste tires in the past, and the collection of information from local government officials and the public concerning possible illegal waste tire sites. The bill would require the department to prepare and issue an annual written report on the status of the program beginning one year after the date of enactment of the bill into law.
Waste tire piles pose a risk to public safety and the environment. Runoff from scrap tire piles poses a risk to groundwater and surface water quality. Tire piles provide an ideal breeding site for mosquitos that may carry diseases such as Zika virus and West Nile virus. Further, tire fires emit particles and hazardous substances into the air, soil, and water that pose human health risks and cause environmental contamination.
