VI-Concrete Co. v. State

531 A.2d 1039, 220 N.J. Super. 176, 1987 N.J. Super. LEXIS 1308
CourtNew Jersey Superior Court Appellate Division
DecidedAugust 17, 1987
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 531 A.2d 1039 (VI-Concrete Co. v. State) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering New Jersey Superior Court Appellate Division primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
VI-Concrete Co. v. State, 531 A.2d 1039, 220 N.J. Super. 176, 1987 N.J. Super. LEXIS 1308 (N.J. Ct. App. 1987).

Opinion

The opinion of the court was delivered by

DEIGHAN, J.A.D.

Plaintiff Vi-Concrete Company (Vi-Concrete) appeals from the issuance of a New Jersey Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NJPDES) permit by the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) without an application having been made for it. The permit required, as a condition thereof, the installation of ground water wells on a site at Columbia Avenue, Ateo, in Waterford Township upon which a landfill previously existed. Vi-Concrete requested an adjudicatory hearing and the matter was referred by the DEP to the Office of Administrative Law for a hearing.

Since Vi-Concrete never applied for the permit in the first instance, it made a motion to invalidate the permit issued by the DEP. DEP filed a cross-motion for summary judgment. The Administrative Law Judge (AU) denied both motions on the basis that there were factual issues to be resolved. On the DEP’s interlocutory appeal, the Commissioner of the DEP (Commissioner) affirmed the denial of Vl-Concrete’s motion but reversed the order of the AU and granted the DEP’s cross-motion for summary judgment.

The facts developed at the hearing are uncomplicated. The DEP issued an NJPDES permit to Vi-Concrete on property owned by it on Columbus Avenue in Ateo without any application having been made for the permit. The location of the [179]*179landfill refers to “Edgewood Sand & Gravel SLF [Sanitary Landfill]” upon which a landfill operation had previously been conducted. The permit required Vi-Concrete

to monitor the ground water at a sanitary landfill in Ateo by operating and maintaining four ground water monitoring wells according to the specific and general conditions of this Initial Interim NJPDES permit. The initial Interim NJPDES permit is intended to establish an adequate ground water monitoring program at the above named facility.

Since Vi-Concrete never operated a landfill on the property it contends that the DEP could not issue a permit for which an owner had not applied.

At the hearing before the AU the following facts were undisputed:

Petitioner is in the business of producing concrete and concrete by-products. In 1976, it purchased the property in question, a 9.54 acre parcel in Waterford Township, Camden County from Edgewood Bituminous Products & Contractors, Inc. When petitioner [Vi-Concrete] bought the property, it contained an existing asphalt plant and related equipment. Sometime in the 1960’s the property had been used as a sanitary landfill and operated under the name Edgewood Sand and Gravel Sanitary Landfill.

Although the DEP contested VI-Concrete’s other assertions, it accepted the following as true for purposes of the summary judgment motion: (1) the landfill was closed in or about 1968; (2) at the time Vi-Concrete purchased the property in 1976 it had no indication that a landfill had ever existed on the property; (3) the agreement of sale for the property to Vi-Concrete from Edgewood Bituminous Products & Contractors, Inc. stated the property was zoned for an asphalt plant and that an asphalt plant actually existed; (4) no liens, judgments, encumbrances, actions or proceedings were pending against the seller with regard to the sale of the property; (5) Vi-Concrete had never operated a landfill at the site, and (6) that there were no outstanding citations against any party for operation of a landfill from the time operation ceased in 1968 through 1985.

In denying both motions for summary judgment, the AU concluded that the DEP could unilaterally issue a permit without an application by Vi-Concrete, and that a closed landfill could be subject to regulations. He denied VI-Concrete’s mo[180]*180tion for summary judgment because disputed facts existed as to when the landfill closed and the extent to which Vi-Concrete knew or should have known about prior use. The AU also denied the DEP’s motion for summary judgment because he concluded that it could not require monitoring of a preexisting inactive landfill without a showing of environmental damage in the absence of more specific regulations. The AU concluded that the regulations upon which the DEP had relied, N.J.A.C. 7:14A-10.1, dealt only with new or existing active landfills.

On appeal by DEP, the Commissioner affirmed that portion of the AU’s decision which held the DEP could unilaterally issue an NJPDES permit without an application and that VI-Concrete as the owner of the property on which a landfill had existed was the proper party to receive the permit. The Commissioner reversed that portion of the AU’s decision which had held the DEP could not, in the absence of more specific regulations, require monitoring of a preexisting inactive landfill where there was no showing of environmental damage. The Commissioner concluded that “the Water Pollution Control Act authorizes and, in fact, requires the Department to issue NJPDES permits to all classes of landfills regardless of evidence of discharge because it is clearly and directly inferable from the text of the act that all landfills are discharges and that, in the absence of specific exemptions all landfills require NJPDES permits.”

On appeal, Vi-Concrete contends that the issuance of a NJPDES permit to it was improper and has no basis in fact or law. It further requests that the matter be remanded to adduce additional evidence required for a disposition in this matter.

I

Vi-Concrete contends that the Commissioner’s decision must be reversed for three reasons. First it contends that the Water Pollution Control Act, N.J.S.A. 58:10A-1 et seq. and N.J.A.C. [181]*1817:14-1 et seq., which the DEP cites as authorities for the issuance of the permit, do not specifically provide that a permit may be issued unilaterally by the DEP without an application. Second, it contends that the statute and regulation apply to existing active landfills, but not preexisting landfills which are now closed and no longer in operation. Finally, Vi-Concrete contends that if a permit may be issued for the property in question, it is not the proper permittee, but that its predecessor in title, Edgewood Bituminous Products, who would have operated the landfill, should be the permittee.

As to VI-Concrete’s first contention, the Water Pollution Control Act provides for a system of monitoring and controlling discharged pollutants which may percolate into waters of the State. “[T]he water quality standards and permit programs adopted pursuant [to the Water Pollution Control Act] are to insure that water pollution will not worsen.” New Jersey Builders v. Dept. of Environmental Protection, 169 N.J.Super. 76, 83 (App.Div.), certif. denied 81 N.J. 402 (1979). To accept VI-Concrete’s contention that the DEP may not issue a permit without an application would mean that contamination of the water supply from a particular source could not be controlled. The Act provides: “It shall be unlawful for any person to discharge any pollutant, except in conformance with a valid [NJPDES] permit that has been issued by the Commissioner pursuant to this act or a valid National Pollution Discharge Elimination System permit issued by the Administrator pursuant to the federal act, as the case may be.” N.J.S.A. 58:10A-6a.

If Vi-Concrete property pollutes the water, in the absence of a permit, it would be violating the Act and subject to penalties under the Act.

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Related

Township of Voorhees v. Department of Environmental Protection
677 A.2d 218 (New Jersey Superior Court App Division, 1996)
Vi-Concrete Co. v. STATE, DEP
556 A.2d 761 (Supreme Court of New Jersey, 1989)
Matter of Vulcan Materials Co.
542 A.2d 25 (New Jersey Superior Court App Division, 1988)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
531 A.2d 1039, 220 N.J. Super. 176, 1987 N.J. Super. LEXIS 1308, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/vi-concrete-co-v-state-njsuperctappdiv-1987.