USA – NEW JERSEY Law and Practice Contributed by: Nicole Dory, Christina Sartorio Ku, Meredith Rubin and Camryn Goldstein, Connell Foley LLP
16. Environmental Disclosure and Information 16.1 Disclosure and Reporting Requirements New Jersey’s environmental statutes typically require disclosure of an environmental issue to the NJDEP. Under the SRRA, LSRPs must immediately disclose an environmental concern that poses a significant risk to public health or the environment to NJDEP. The ISRA also requires owners of industrial facilities to report the site’s closure or sale to NJDEP within five days. Annual emissions reporting is also required for facili- ties that emit or have the potential to emit certain pol- lutants. Major facilities with permits must submit semi- annual and annual compliance certification reports. Additionally, discharge monitoring reports are manda- tory for facilities with NJPDES permits. The NJDEP further provides a self-disclosure report online for regulated entities, which requires an entity to provide a description of the violation, the events that led to the discovery of the violation and measures the entity will take to prevent future violations, among other disclosures. NJDEP establishes and employs grace periods for cer- tain minor violations. However, failure to comply with other reporting requirements may result in NJDEP’s revocation or suspension of permits or certificates. The NJDEP may also issue compliance orders, assess administrative civil penalties, file suit, or impose crimi- nal penalties from fines to imprisonment. 16.2 Public Environmental Information Environmental information is available through NJDEP’s public database DataMiner. In 2025, NJDEP also launched a new DocMiner tool to add more infor- mation available to the public. These databases are intended to improve accessibility to information and transparency and to avoid filing requests under New Jersey’s Open Public Records Act (OPRA). 16.3 Corporate Disclosure Requirement Benefit corporations are required to disclose their environmental performance in their annual benefit reports. Otherwise, there are no state-mandated
requirements for the disclosure of environmental infor- mation in annual reports. Publicly traded corporations are subject to the Securities and Exchange Commis- sion’s federal disclosure rules. 16.4 Green Finance In April 2024, the New Jersey Economic Development Authority (NJEDA) formed the New Jersey Green Bank, a wholly owned subsidiary of the NJEDA intended to use climate-related investments and financial assis- tance to mobilise private capital in order to advance New Jersey’s climate goals. Certain entities, with eli- gible projects within New Jersey such as renewable energy generation, electric battery storage, building retrofits and new net zero buildings, as well as zero emission vehicles, zero emission vehicle charging or fuelling infrastructure, may apply for financing from the New Jersey Green Bank. In addition, New Jersey Clean Energy Loans are avail- able through the NJEDA for smaller companies (with fewer than 750 employees) in New Jersey seeking financing for clean energy projects. This is an USD80 million co-lending programme with funds from the US Treasury’s State Small Business Credit Initiative (SSBCI). Through these loans, the NJEDA intends to lend between USD250,000 and USD10 million for pro- jects requesting a total loan amount of USD500,000 to USD20 million. Environmental due diligence is typically conducted on M&A, finance, and property transactions within New Jersey. Typically, a Phase I Environmental Site Assess- ment will be performed, at a minimum, which is an evaluation of the current site conditions, current and prior site operations, and potential environmental and business risks. However, while a Phase I may provide certain defenc- es to future liability should a previously unknown environmental condition be discovered in the future, including federal innocent purchaser or bona fide pur- chaser defences under CERCLA, a Phase I, alone, does not establish a defence to liability under the New 17. Transactions 17.1 Environmental Due Diligence
465 CHAMBERS.COM
Powered by FlippingBook