JANUARY 26, 2017

After the rush to comply with the Remedial Investigation completion statutory timeframe promulgated with the New Jersey Site Remediation Reform Act (SRRA), many legacy site owners, responsible parties, and other stakeholders will have felt a strong temptation to take their foot off the gas. The good news is that for those who did step back rather than immediately digging in to their projects and continuing characterization and remedial planning, there is still time—though it may be running short.  To assess where your project stands relative to New Jersey’s Site Remediation & Waste Management Program Remedial Action Timeframes, here are five keys to help in understanding and meeting your obligations under the SRRA:

1. Conduct a priorities evaluation to identify the biggest challenges with your site or sites. In some cases, this may be well understood, but for complex sites, it will take more time. A priorities evaluation will help you figure out when you need to start work (and how long it will take to implement including obtaining a Response Action Outcome), how to budget appropriately, and how to balance scheduling and cash flow.
2. Know the rules. What exactly are you going to be required to do? Do you have someone on staff who knows the ins and outs of the applicable regulations? To make smart choices about how to proceed, you need a full understanding of the requirements and where you may have flexibility.
3. Make sure you have a team with the required remediation engineering technical savvy. The success of every remediation project, as well as the ultimate cost, are defined by the approach applied at the outset. Planning and design costs could be dwarfed by the implementation, so working with someone who knows the techniques and technologies, and how to apply them, is critical.
4. Establish clear goals and metrics to evaluate against, and clear roles and responsibilities across your team. Site closure is the ultimate goal, but you need to map out your course and the intermediate steps to get there. Clear goals and metrics also make it much easier to identify how effective your approach is and hold every member of your team accountable.
5. Work with someone with a record of success. Having partners who have dealt with the issues you face improves your chances of achieving the best possible outcome for your site. And choosing someone with both a long history and a deep bench can make the difference between a smooth implementation and a chaotic project.

To review where you stand in this process, or figure out what you need to do next, get in touch using the contact form below. Everyone who contacts us will receive a free consultation.