58:10A-7. Term of permit; modification, suspension or revocation; causes; notice; contested cases

a. All permits issued under this act shall be for fixed terms not to exceed five years. Any permittee who wishes to continue discharging after the expiration date of his permit must file for a new permit at least 180 days prior to that date.

b. (1) The commissioner may modify, suspend, or revoke a permit in whole or in part during its term for cause, including but not limited to the following:

(a) Violation of any term or condition of the permit;

(b) Obtaining a permit by misrepresentation or failure to disclose fully all relevant facts.

(2) If a toxic effluent limitation or prohibition, including any schedule of compliance specified in such effluent limitation or prohibition, is established under section 307(a) of the Federal Act for a toxic pollutant which is more stringent than any limitations upon such pollutant in an existing permit, the commissioner shall revise or modify the permit in accordance with the toxic effluent limitation or prohibition and so notify the permittee.

(3) The department shall include in a permit for a delegated local agency effluent limits for all pollutants listed under the United States Environmental Protection Agency's Categorical Pretreatment Standards, adopted pursuant to 33 U.S.C. s. 1317, and such other pollutants for which effluent limits have been established for a permittee discharging into the municipal treatment works of the delegated local agency, except those categorical or other pollutants that the delegated local agency demonstrates to the department are not discharged above detectable levels by the municipal treatment works. The department, by permit, may authorize the use by a delegated local agency of surrogate parameters for categorical and other pollutants discharged from a municipal treatment works, except that if a surrogate parameter is exceeded, the department shall require effluent limits for each categorical or other pollutant for which the surrogate parameter was used, for such period of time as may be determined by the department.

c. Notice of every proposed suspension, revocation or renewal, or substantial modification of a permit and opportunity for public hearing thereupon, shall be afforded in the same manner as with respect to original permit applications as provided for in this act. In any event notice of all modifications to a discharge permit shall be published in the DEP Bulletin.

d. A determination to grant, deny, modify, suspend, or revoke a permit shall constitute a contested case under the "Administrative Procedure Act," P.L.1968, c.410 (C.52:14B-1 et seq.). The permittee, or any other person considered a party to the action pursuant to subsection e. of this section, shall have the opportunity to contest the determination in an administrative hearing.

e. A person, other than the permittee, seeking to be considered a party to the action shall submit a request to be so considered to the commissioner within 30 days of the publication of the notice of the decision to grant, deny, modify, suspend, or revoke a permit. The administrative law judge upon referral, or the commissioner, if the commissioner decides to make the determination, shall find whether a person other than the permittee is a party to the action within 30 days of the submission of the request or the referral to the administrative law judge. A person shall be deemed a party to the action only if:

(1) the person's objections to the action to grant, deny, modify, suspend, or revoke a permit were raised by that person in the hearing held pursuant to section 9 of P.L.1977, c.74 (C.58:10A-9), or, if no hearing was held, the objections were raised in a written submission;

(2) the person demonstrates the existence of a significant issue of law or fact;

(3) the person shows that the significant issue of law or fact is likely to affect the permit determination;

(4) the person can show an interest, including an environmental, aesthetic, or recreational interest, which is or may be affected by the permit decision and that the interest fairly can be traced to the challenged action and is likely to be redressed by a decision favorable to that person. An organization may contest a permit decision on behalf of one or more of its members if (a) the organization's member or members could otherwise be a party to the action in their own right; and (b) the interests the organization seeks to protect are germane to the organization's purpose; and

(5) the person submits the following information with the request to be considered a party to the action:

(a) a statement of each legal or factual question alleged to be at issue and its relevance to the permit decision, together with a designation of the specific factual areas to be adjudicated and the hearing time estimated to be necessary for adjudication;

(b) information supporting the request which shall be submitted pursuant to adopted rules;

(c) the name, mailing address, and telephone number of the person making the request;

(d) a clear and concise factual statement of the nature and scope of the interest of the requester;

(e) the names and addresses of all affected persons whom the requester represents;

(f) a statement by the requester that, upon motion of any party granted by the hearing officer, or upon order of the hearing officer sua sponte, the requester shall make available to appear and testify at the administrative hearing, if granted, the following: the requester; all affected persons represented by the requester; and all officers, directors, employees, consultants, and agents of the requester;

(g) specific references to the contested permit conditions, as well as suggested revised or alternative permit conditions, including permit denials, which, in the judgment of the requester, would be required to implement the purposes of P.L.1977, c.74; and

(h) in the case of application of control or treatment technologies identified in the statement of basis or fact sheet, identification of the basis for the objection, and the alternative technologies or combination of technologies which the requester believes are necessary to meet the requirements of P.L.1977, c.74.

Whenever a person's request to be considered to be a party to the action is granted, the commissioner or the administrative law judge, as appropriate, shall identify the permit conditions which have been contested by the requester and for which an administrative hearing will be granted. Permit conditions which are not so contested shall not be affected by, or considered at, the administrative hearing. All requests by persons seeking to be considered a party to the action for a particular permit shall be combined in a single administrative hearing.

f. A permittee may contest the determination to grant, deny, modify, suspend, or revoke a permit in an administrative hearing pursuant to subsection d. of this section only upon the placement, in escrow, of money in an amount equal to the permit fee.

L.1977,c.74,s.7; amended 1990,c.28,s.4.