Delaware Riverkeeper Network v. Soil Safe, Inc.

223 F. Supp. 3d 231, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 164987, 2016 WL 7013457
CourtDistrict Court, D. New Jersey
DecidedNovember 30, 2016
DocketCivil No. 14-1349 (RMB/KMW)
StatusPublished

This text of 223 F. Supp. 3d 231 (Delaware Riverkeeper Network v. Soil Safe, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. New Jersey primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Delaware Riverkeeper Network v. Soil Safe, Inc., 223 F. Supp. 3d 231, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 164987, 2016 WL 7013457 (D.N.J. 2016).

Opinion

OPINION

[Diet. Nos. 104, 112, 113, 114, 115]

BUMB, United States District Judge:

THIS MATTER comes before the Court upon the filing of a motion for summary judgment filed by Defendant Soil Safe, Inc. (“Soil Safe”) and a cross-motion for partial summary judgment filed by Plaintiffs Delaware Riverkeeper Network and Delaware Riverkeeper (collectively, “DRN”). Mot. Summ. Judgment [Dkt. No. 104]; Cross-Mot. Summ. Judgment [Dkt. No. 112]. For the reasons set forth below, the Court (a) denies Soil Safe’s motion for summary judgment with regard to DRN’s Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (“RCRA”) claim; (b) grants Soil Safe’s motion for partial summary judgment on DRN’s New Jersey Environmental Rights Act (“NJERA”) claim; and (c) denies DRN’s associated cross-motion for summary judgment.

L FACTUAL BACKGROUND

Soil Safe holds itself out to be a recycler of soil, adding cementitious and other additives to contaminated soil, along with screening and processing that soil for structural fill and engineering purposes, including remediation. Soil Safe’s Statement of Undisputed Material Facts & DRN’s Responses (“First SOF”) ¶¶ 1-5,10 [Dkt. Nos. 104-2, 112-4]. Other than those high-level facts, the parties disagree about much of Soil Safe’s efforts in recycling soil, and, indeed, whether it even amounts to “recycling.”

Soil Safe’s product, as it pertains to this case, is a low level petroleum-impacted soil that is, as set forth in the affidavit Dr. Craig Benson,1 ICC700 National Green Building Standard Green Certified. Benson Aff. Ex. A at Appx B [Dkt. No. 104-40], The soil at issue in this case comes from Soil Safe’s Logan Recycling Center, located in Logan Township, Gloucester County, New Jersey. Gibson Dec. Ex. A at 2 [Dkt. No. 104-5]. Soil Safe possesses a New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (“NJDEP”) Class B recycling permit, which authorizes it to use recycled soil at three specific sites: (1) the Birch Creek Site, which is owned by Soil Safe; (2) the Logan Equine Park Site, which is owned by Gloucester County Improvement Authority; and (3) the Gloucester County Park site (“County Park Site”), which is owned as well by the Gloucester County Improvement Authority. First SOF ¶ 13.

The County Park Site was historically contaminated because it was used as a depository for dredge spills, among other things. Id. ¶ 16. The NJDEP approved a Remedial Action Workplan (“RAWP”) for the site in November 2008, with a goal of remediating the contamination at the site. [234]*234Id. ¶ 17; see also Gibson Dec. Ex. B (the “County Park Site RAWP”). The County Park Site RAWP was supported by a 14-month study and review, with permits and approvals for the project being obtained from the United States Army Corps of Engineers, several NJDEP units, the Gloucester Soil Conservation District, the Gloucester County Health Department, the Gloucester County Improvement Authority, the Gloucester County Board of Chosen Freeholders, and Logan Township. First SOF ¶ 18. In generating this review, technical studies, including a full ecological inventory, a comprehensive evaluation of the product to be used at the site, and other ecological analyses, were performed. Id. ¶ 19. After approval of the County Park Site RAWP and its associated environmental analysis, shipment of Soil Safe product began in March 2009. Id. ¶ 20.

The parties disagree about much of what the County Park Site RAWP entails for the County Park Site. As the RAWP sets forth, the Site is contaminated with arsenic, lead and pesticides in the surface soil. The sub-surface soil is contaminated with metals, pesticides, petroleum hydrocarbon, polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbon (“PAH”) and PCB. Finally, the groundwater is contaminated with metals. County Park Site RAWP at 8. Based upon the results of an ecological analysis of the existing conditions, Soil Safe proposed (and the County Park Site RAWP adopted), the placing of an environmental cap over portions of the County Park Site, which will permit the site to have the potential for human use. Id. at 9. As the County Park Site RAWP notes, “[t]he cap will be manufactured from Soil Safe product, a class B recyclable material that has been proven to be environmentally safe.” |d. The project consists of placing three layers atop the contaminated area:

• A two-foot thick, reduced permeability cap layer between the surface contamination and the developed park lands, which serves as a base for the development of the site;

• A varying-thickness contouring layer, which provides lines and grades needed for site development, as well as improving the geotechnical properties of the site; and

• A minimum 12-inch thick topsoil layer, which includes seed, landscaping and wearing surfaces which will be sufficient for permanent stabilization.

Id. at 9.2

In conducting the remediation pursuant to the County Park Site RAWP, the soil that Soil Safe will send to the project site is sampled and analyzed at least twice before it is shipped to verify that the soil is non-hazardous. First SOF ¶¶27, 28. Indeed, in order to be sent to the County Park Site after recycling at Soil Safe’s Logan Recycling Facility, over 16,000 samples of soil are analyzed. M. ¶ 80. The data generated by these samples are analyzed by New Jersey Certified Analytical Laboratories. They are then submitted to an independent New Jersey Professional Engineer for certification. Id. ¶¶ 39-40.

Soil Safe estimates that it is approximately 80 to 85% complete with the project as of April 2016. Free Aff. ¶ 18 [Dkt. No. 104-39]. As set forth in the below analysis, this lawsuit arises from faults that DRN claims it has identified concerning Soil Safe’s remediation efforts. Specifically, the thrust of DRN’s factual claims is that Soil Safe does not meaningfully recycle any soil that it receives and instead [235]*235disposes of contaminated soil (which it argues is a solid or hazardous waste) in the name of remediation only, while violating the County Park Site RAWP and New Jersey regulations along the way. DRN Opp. Br. at 2, 21-22 [Dkt. No. 112-2].3

II. LEGAL STANDARD

Summary judgment shall be granted if “the movant shows that there is no genuine dispute as to any material fact and the movant is entitled to judgment as a matter of law.” 14 Fed. R. Civ. P. 56(a). A fact is “material” if it will “affect the outcome of the suit under the governing law .... ” Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc., 477 U.S. 242, 248, 106 S.Ct. 2505, 91 L.Ed.2d 202 (1986). A dispute is “genuine” if it could lead a “reasonable jury [to] return a verdict for the nonmoving party.” Id.

When deciding the existence of a genuine dispute of material fact, a court’s role is not to weigh the evidence; all reasonable “inferences, doubts, and issues of credibility should be resolved against the moving party.” Meyer v. Riegel Prods. Corp., 720 F.2d 303, 307 n.2 (3d Cir. 1983). However, a mere “scintilla of evidence,” without more, will not give rise to a genuine dispute for trial. Anderson, 477 U.S. at 252, 106 S.Ct. 2505.

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Bluebook (online)
223 F. Supp. 3d 231, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 164987, 2016 WL 7013457, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/delaware-riverkeeper-network-v-soil-safe-inc-njd-2016.