Governor Chris Christie recently signed into law A-4543/S-3075 (Spencer/Schepisi/Smith/Bateman), which extends the deadline for completing the remedial investigation of contaminated sites before the Department of Environmental Protection (“DEP”) takes direct oversight of the sites. The law provides for an extension of two years for the completion of the remedial investigation if specified criteria are met. A document specifying that the criteria are met must be submitted to DEP by March 7, 2014.

The Site Remediation Reform Act (SRRA) established a May 7, 2014 deadline for completion of remedial investigations of sites where contamination was identified on or before May 7, 1999. This deadline also applied to sites at which contamination should have been identified on or before May 7, 1999 due to a legal obligation to complete a preliminary assessment and/or site investigation. SRRA required that Remedial Investigation Reports (RIR) be filed with DEP for such sites by the May 7, 2014 deadline. If the RIR is not submitted by the deadline, the SRRA requires DEP to take over direct oversight of the remediation of the property.