13:1E-125.2 Voidable causes; closure.

2. a. (1) An administrative consent order, agreement, closure or post-closure plan, or other permit or approval entered into before or after the effective date of this act by the Department of Environmental Protection and any person for the closure of a legacy landfill or for the authorization to place additional waste or material on a closed sanitary landfill facility shall be voidable for any of the following causes:

(a) if the owner or operator does not satisfy the financial assurance requirements of P.L.2013, c.69 (C.13:1E-125.1 et seq.) or any material financial plan requirements in any administrative consent order, agreement, closure or post-closure plan, or other permit or approval;

(b) if the owner or operator, or any person entering into the administrative consent order, agreement, closure or post-closure plan, or other permit or approval, made or submitted to any government entity or official any material misrepresentation, false statement, false report, false filing, misleading statement, or evasion or suppression of a material fact, including making a false financial disclosure, related to the subject of the administrative consent order, the closure or post-closure plans of the legacy landfill or closed sanitary landfill facility, the property ownership of the legacy landfill site or closed sanitary landfill facility, or the qualifications of the person responsible for the closure or post-closure plans for the legacy landfill or closed sanitary landfill facility; or

(c) for fraud, deceit, or material misrepresentation in securing a license issued pursuant to P.L.1983, c.392 (C.13:1E-126 et seq.) related to the closure of a legacy landfill or the placement of waste or material at a closed sanitary landfill facility.

(2) The commissioner may institute a summary action in the Superior Court to terminate an administrative consent order, agreement, closure or post-closure plan, or other permit or approval entered into by the department and a person for the closure of a legacy landfill or the placement of waste or material at a closed sanitary landfill facility. In any such proceeding, if an administrative consent order, agreement, closure or post-closure plan, or other permit or approval is voidable as provided in paragraph (1) of this subsection, the Superior Court shall issue an order terminating the administrative consent order, agreement, plan, permit, or approval.

b. If an administrative consent order, agreement, closure or post-closure plan, or other permit or approval, entered into by the department and any person for the closure of a legacy landfill or the placement of waste or material at a closed sanitary landfill facility is terminated pursuant to the provisions of subsection a. of this section, the department shall take such measures deemed necessary by the department to protect the public, which may include closing the legacy landfill or sanitary landfill facility, consistent with the provisions of P.L.2013, c.69 (C.13:1E-125.1 et seq.).

c. Any closure costs and costs incurred by the department in a proceeding resulting in termination pursuant to subsection a. of this section, including attorney's fees and court costs, may be recovered by the State from the owner or operator of the legacy landfill or closed sanitary landfill facility and shall constitute a debt of the owner or operator to the State. All owners or operators shall be jointly and severally liable for all recoverable costs. The debt shall constitute a lien on all property owned by the owner or operator when a notice of lien, incorporating a description of the property of the owner or operator subject to the closure and an identification of the amount of closure and related costs expended by the State, is duly filed with the clerk of the Superior Court. The clerk shall promptly enter upon the civil judgment or order docket the name and address of the owner or operator and the amount of the lien as set forth in the notice of lien. Upon entry by the clerk, the lien, to the amount committed by the State for closure and related costs, shall attach to the revenues and all real and personal property of the owner or operator, whether or not the owner or operator is insolvent.

d. The notice of lien filed pursuant to subsection c. of this section which affects the property of an owner or operator subject to the closure shall create a lien with priority over all other claims or liens which are or have been filed against the property. The notice of lien filed pursuant to subsection c. of this section which affects any property of an owner or operator, other than the property subject to the closure, shall have priority from the day of the filing of the notice of the lien over all other claims and liens filed against the property, but shall not affect any valid lien, right, or interest in the property filed in accordance with established procedure prior to the filing of a notice of lien pursuant to this subsection.

L.2013, c.69, s.2.