Current through Register Vol. 56, No. 18, September 16, 2024
(a) To
request an adjudicatory hearing to contest an administrative order, a notice of
civil administrative penalty assessment, or a notice of civil administrative cost
assessment issued by the Department pursuant to the Water Pollution Control Act, the
New Jersey Underground Storage of Hazardous Substances Act, or the Water Supply and
Wastewater Operators' Licensing Act, the violator shall submit the original request
in writing to the Department at New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection,
Office of Administrative Hearings and Dispute Resolution, ATTENTION: Adjudicatory
Hearing Requests, 401 E. State Street, Mail Code 401-07A, PO Box 420, Trenton, New
Jersey 08625-0420 and a copy of the request to the enforcement bureau which issued
the enforcement document. Any written request shall include the following
information:
1. The name, address, and telephone
number of the violator and its authorized representative;
2. The date the violator received the enforcement
document being contested;
3. A copy of
the enforcement document and a list of all issues being appealed;
4. The violator's defenses to each of the findings
of fact stated in short and plain terms;
5. An admission or denial of each of the findings
of fact. If the violator is without knowledge or information sufficient to form a
belief as to the truth of a finding, the violator shall so state and this shall have
the effect of a denial. A denial shall fairly meet the substance of the findings
denied. When the violator intends in good faith to deny only a part or a
qualification of a finding, the violator shall specify so much of it as is true and
material and deny only the remainder. The violator may not generally deny all of the
findings but shall make all denials as specific denials of designated findings. For
each finding the violator denies, the violator shall allege the fact or facts as the
violator believes it or them to be;
6.
Information supporting the request and specific reference to or copies of other
written documents relied upon to support the request;
7. An estimate of the time required for the
hearing (in days and/or hours);
8. A
request, if necessary, for a barrier-free hearing location for physically disabled
persons;
9. Proof of compliance with all
of the requirements in
7:14A-6.10 if the violator intends to:
i. Raise an affirmative defense to liability for a
civil administrative penalty pursuant to
7:14-8.5(a) or 8.16(a)
for the violation of an effluent limitation on the basis that a violation of an
effluent limitation occurred as a result of an upset, an approved anticipated bypass
or unanticipated bypass, a testing laboratory error, or a permitted groundwater
remedial action; and
ii. To request that
the Department determine through an administrative hearing whether or not it agrees
with the violator's allegations concerning the matter; and
10. For a notice of civil administrative penalty
assessment pursuant to
7:14-8.9(e), the
following as applicable:
i. Documentation of
compliance with the requirements in
7:14-8.9(e) that the
violator notify the Department in writing, within 30 days after the date the
violator was required to submit the information to the Department, of extenuating
circumstances that prevented timely submission of a complete discharge monitoring
report;
ii. Documentation of the
violator's correction of the violation by submitting the omitted information within
10 days after the violator's receipt of the notice of the omission; a violator's
failure to comply with the notice requirements in
7:14-8.9(e) will be a
waiver of the violator's right to correct the violation within the required 10-day
period and thus avert liability; or
iii.
Documentation that the violator complied with
7:14-8.9(e) 3, if the
violator intends to contest a civil administrative penalty assessed pursuant to
7:14-8.9(e) based on
the existence of extenuating circumstances beyond the violator's control; if the
violator fails to submit the required information within this 30-day period, the
violator shall have waived its right to contest the civil administrative penalty in
this manner and be barred from doing so; and
11. A statement as to whether the violator agrees
to the Department's holding the request for 90 days prior to referral to the Office
of Administrative Law for purposes of allowing time to negotiate a settlement of the
dispute as provided by
1:1-8.1(b).
(b) The Department shall deny the
hearing request if the Department does not receive a complete hearing request
pursuant to (a) above within 20 days after receipt by the violator of the Notice of
a Civil Administrative Penalty Assessment, the Administrative Order, or Notice of
Civil Administrative Cost Assessment being challenged. A violator's failure to
notify the Department in writing, within the 30 days allotted under (a)10i above, of
the existence of extenuating circumstances which prevented timely submission of a
complete discharge monitoring report, shall be grounds for the Department to deny
any hearing request on a notice of civil administrative penalty assessment pursuant
to 7:14-8.9(e).
(c) All adjudicatory hearings held pursuant to
this section shall be conducted in accordance with the Administrative Procedure Act,
52:14B-1 et seq., and the Uniform
Administrative Procedure Rules, N.J.A.C. 1:1.
