N.J. Admin. Code § 7:1K-1.5

Current through Register Vol. 56, No. 21, November 4, 2024
Section 7:1K-1.5 - Definitions

The following words and terms, when used in this chapter, shall have the following meanings, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise.

"Act" means the Pollution Prevention Act, 13:1D-35 et seq.

"Assertedly confidential information" means information for which a claimant has filed a confidentiality claim in accordance with 7:1K-8.2, but for which the Department has not made a final confidentiality determination pursuant to 7:1K-9.5.

"Assistant Commissioner" means the Assistant Commissioner for Environmental Regulation or his or her designated representative.

"Base year" means the calendar year prior to the year of the submittal of an industrial facility's Pollution Prevention Plan Summary to the Department.

"Board" means the Pollution Prevention Advisory Board established by 13:1D-39.

"Claimant" means any person who submits a confidentiality claim under this chapter.

"Class confidentiality determination" means a confidentiality determination made by the Department under 7:1K-9.9, for a class of information.

"Commissioner" means the Commissioner of the Department of Environmental Protection or his or her designated representative.

"Confidential copy" means a record (or copy thereof) submitted to or obtained by the Department, containing information which the claimant asserts is confidential information.

"Confidential information" means information, including trade secret information, which the Department determines to have satisfied all of the following substantive criteria:

1. The claimant has asserted a confidentiality claim with respect to the information, in compliance with the procedures required by N.J.A.C. 7:1K-8.2, and such confidentiality claim has not expired by its terms, been waived or withdrawn;

2. The claimant has shown that disclosure of the information would be likely to cause substantial damage either to the claimant's competitive position or to national security;

3. The claimant has taken reasonable measures to protect the confidentiality of the information, and intends to continue to take such measures;

4. The information is not, and has not been, available or otherwise disclosed to other persons either by the claimant (except in a manner which protects the confidentiality of the information) or without the consent of the claimant (other than by subpoena or by discovery based on a showing of special need in a judicial proceeding, arbitration, or other proceeding in which the claimant was required to disclose the information to other persons, as long as the information has not been available to persons not involved in the proceeding);

5. The information is not contained in materials which are routinely available to the general public, including without limitation initial and final orders in contested case adjudications, press releases, copies of speeches, pamphlets and educational materials;

6. The claimant has not waived the confidentiality claim for the information; and

7. No law, regulation, administrative rule (including, without limitation, N.J.A.C. 7:1K-10 or any other administrative rule of the Department), or order by a court or other tribunal of competent jurisdiction specifically requires disclosure of the information or provides that the information is not confidential information.

"Confidentiality claim" or "claim" means, with respect to information that a person is required either to submit to the Department, or allow the Department to obtain, a written request by such person that the Department treat such information as confidential information.

"Confidentiality determination" means a determination by the Department that assertedly confidential information is or is not confidential information.

"Consume" means to change or alter the molecular structure of a hazardous substance within a production process.

"Contract" means an agreement between the Department and a contractor, for which the Department has determined that it is necessary for the contractor to have access to confidential information to enable the contractor to perform the duties required by such agreement.

"Contractor" means a person, other than an employee of the Department, who has entered into an agreement with the Department to perform services or to provide goods for the Department.

"Co-product" means one or more incidental result(s) of a production process that is not a primary product of the production process and that is sold in trade in the channels of commerce to the general public in the same form as it is produced, for any purpose except the purpose of energy recovery. A co-product is not considered nonproduct output. Increases in quantities of co-products do not count towards use reduction or nonproduct output reduction goals.

"Department" means the Department of Environmental Protection, its successors and assigns.

"Facility" means all buildings, equipment, structures, and other property that are located on a single site or on contiguous or adjacent sites and that are owned or operated by the same person.

"Facility-wide permit" means a single permit issued by the Department to the owner or operator of a priority industrial facility incorporating the permits, certificates, registrations, or any other relevant Department approvals previously issued to the owner or operator of the priority industrial facility pursuant to the Solid Waste Management Act, 13:1E-1 et seq., the Water Pollution Control Act, 58:10A-1 et seq., the Air Pollution Control Act, 26:2C-1 et seq., and the appropriate provisions of the Pollution Prevention Plan prepared by the owner or operator of the priority industrial facility pursuant to 13:1D-41 and 42.

"Form DEQ-114" means the Release and Pollution Prevention Report (RPPR) form issued by the Department which is used to fulfill the Environmental Release and Pollution Prevention reporting requirements of the environmental survey, Part II, pursuant to 34:5A-1 et seq.

"Grace period" means a period of time afforded under the Grace Period Law, 13:1D-125 et seq., for a person to correct a minor violation in order to avoid imposition of a penalty that would otherwise be applicable for a violation.

"Hazardous substance" means any substance on the list established by the United States Environmental Protection Agency for reporting pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 11023, and any other substance which the Department defines as a hazardous substance for the purposes of the Act pursuant to 7:1K-3.5.

"Hazardous waste" means any solid waste defined as hazardous waste by the Department pursuant to 13:1E-1 et seq.

"Industrial facility" means any facility having a North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) code listed in chapter Appendix D, incorporated herein by reference, dated and published in 2002 by the Executive Office of the President of the United States, Office of Management and Budget, ISBN 0-934213-87-9, NTIS PB2002-502024, subject to the specified exceptions and limitations, and which is subject to the regulatory requirements of the Solid Waste Management Act, 13:1E-1 et seq., the Water Pollution Control Act, 58:10A-1 et seq., or the Air Pollution Control Act, 26:2C-1 et seq.

In-process recycling" means returning a hazardous substance to a production process using dedicated equipment that is directly connected to and physically integrated with a production process or production processes and is operated in a manner that reduces the generation of nonproduct output or the multi-media release of hazardous substances.

"Intermediate product" means one or more desired result(s) of a production process that is made into a product in a subsequent production process at the same industrial facility, without the need for pollution treatment prior to its being made into a product. An intermediate product is not considered nonproduct output.

"Manufacture" means to produce, prepare, import, or compound a hazardous substance.

"Multimedia release" means the release of a hazardous substance to any environmental medium, or any combination of media, including the air, water or land, and includes any release into workplaces.

"Nonproduct output" or "NPO" means all hazardous substances or hazardous wastes that are generated prior to storage, out-of-process recycling, treatment, control or disposal, and that are not intended for use as a product. Nonproduct output includes fugitive releases.

"Offense" means each individual violation of the Act or of any rule promulgated, or administrative order, operating certificate, registration requirement or permit issued pursuant thereto. Subsequent offenses are not conditioned upon a prior conviction, final order, or entry of judgment. In addition, a single administrative order and notice of civil administrative penalty assessment may relate to more than one offense.

"Office" means the Office of Pollution Prevention and Right to Know established in the Department pursuant to 13:1D-38.

"Operator" means any person in control of, or exercising responsibility for, the daily operation of an industrial facility or a priority industrial facility.

"Owner" means any person who owns an industrial facility or a priority industrial facility.

"Person" means any individual, partnership, company, corporation, society, firm, consortium, joint venture, or any commercial or other legal entity.

"Pilot facility" means a facility or designated area of a facility used for pilot-scale development of products or processes not primarily involved in the production of goods for commercial sale.

"Pollution prevention" means: changes in production technologies, raw materials or products, that result in the reduction of the demand for hazardous substances per unit of product manufactured and the creation of hazardous products or nonproduct outputs; or changes in the use of raw materials, products, or production technologies that result in the reduction of the input use of hazardous substances and the creation of hazardous by-products or destructive results; or on-site facility changes in production processes, products, or the use of substitute raw materials that result in the reduction of the amount of hazardous waste generated and disposed of on the land of hazardous substances discharged into the air or water per unit of product manufactured prior to treatment and that reduce or eliminate, without shifting, the risks that the use of hazardous substances at an industrial facility pose to employees, consumers, and the environment and human health. "Pollution prevention" includes, but is not limited to, raw material substitution, product reformulation, production process redesign or modification, in-process recycling, and improved operation and maintenance of production process equipment. "Pollution prevention" does not include any action or change entailing a substitution of one hazardous substance, product or nonproduct output for another that results in the creation of substantial new risk, and does not include treatment, increased pollution control, out-of-process recycling, or incineration.

"Pollution Prevention Assessment" means an assessment of potential pollution prevention opportunities for the use, generation and release of non-hazardous substances, prepared by an owner or operator of a priority industrial facility that is covered by an effective facility-wide permit issued by the Department, containing the same elements as those required for hazardous substances by 7:1K-4.3 and 4.5.

"Pollution Prevention Plan" means a plan required to be prepared by an industrial facility pursuant to 13:1D-41 and 42 and N.J.A.C. 7:1K-3 and 4.

"Pollution Prevention Plan Progress Report" or "Plan Progress Report" means a report required to be submitted annually to the Department by the owner or operator of an industrial facility pursuant to 13:1D-41 and 42 and N.J.A.C. 7:1K-3 and 6.

"Pollution Prevention Plan Summary" or "Plan Summary" means a summary of a Pollution Prevention Plan required to be prepared by an industrial facility and submitted to the Department pursuant to 13:1D-41 and 42 and N.J.A.C. 7:1K-3 and 5.

"Pollution prevention planning" means the preparation by a priority industrial facility of a Pollution Prevention Plan, Plan Summary, and Plan Progress Report pursuant to this chapter, and includes any reporting of information to the Department required by this chapter as part of the preparation or submittal of pollution prevention planning documents.

"Pollution Prevention Planning Guidance Document" means a document prepared by the Department pursuant to 13:1D-40(b), setting forth the administrative and regulatory requirements for preparing Pollution Prevention Plans, Pollution Prevention Plan Summaries, and Pollution Prevention Plan Progress Reports, and providing additional information which may be used by industrial facilities for pollution prevention planning.

"Preliminary public copy" means a copy of a record held by the Department, identical to the confidential copy except that any assertedly confidential information has been blacked out; provided, however, that if the record is not in a form in which confidential information can be concealed by blacking out, the "preliminary public copy" shall be a copy of such record from which such confidential information has been deleted, containing notations stating where deletions have been made.

"Priority industrial facility" means:

1. Any industrial facility required to prepare and submit a toxic chemical release form pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 11023; or

2. Any other industrial facility designated by the Department as a priority industrial facility pursuant to the criteria and procedure at 7:1K-3.2.

"Product" means one or more desired result(s) of a production process that is used as a commodity in trade in the channels of commerce by the general public in the same form as it is produced. Products include intermediate products transferred to a separate industrial facility owned or operated by the same owner or operator.

"Production process" means a process, line, method, activity or technique, or a series or combination of processes, lines, methods or techniques used to produce a product or reach a planned result.

"Raw Material Substitution Certification" means a list of individual hazardous substances used in specific targeted production processes at a priority industrial facility, for which the owner or operator of the industrial facility has determined through preparation and completion of a Pollution Prevention Plan and has certified to the Department that it is not technically or economically feasible to reduce the input-use of the hazardous substance below current levels by replacing the hazardous substance with a different raw material in the specific production process.

"Record" means any document, writing, photograph, sound or magnetic recording, drawing, or other similar thing by which information has been preserved and from which information can be retrieved and copied.

"Requester" means a person who has made a request to the Department to inspect or copy records which the Department possesses or controls.

"Research and development laboratory" means a facility or a specially designated area of a facility used primarily for research, development, and testing activity, and not primarily involved in the production of goods for commercial sale, in which hazardous substances are used by, or under, the direct supervision of a technically qualified person.

"Source" means a point or location in a production process at which a nonproduct output is generated or released, provided, however, that similar, related or identical kinds of sources may be considered a single source for the purposes of the Act pursuant to the criteria at 7:1K-4.2.

"Substantiation" means information which a claimant submits to the Department in support of a confidentiality claim pursuant to 7:1K-9.3.

"Targeted production process" means any production process which significantly contributes to the use or release of hazardous substances or the generation of nonproduct output, as determined by the owner or operator of a priority industrial facility pursuant to criteria established by the Department at 7:1K-4.4.

"Targeted source" means any source which significantly contributes to the generation of nonproduct output, as determined by the owner or operator of a priority industrial facility pursuant to criteria established by the Department at 7:1K-4.4.

"TRI list" means the Toxic s Release Inventory (TRI) list established by the United States Environmental Protection Agency for reporting pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 11023.

"Unit of product" means a unit used to measure the total quantity of product(s), co-product(s) and/or intermediate product(s) produced by a production process, and which is not changed by an industrial facility from year to year.

"U.S. EPA" means the United States Environmental Protection Agency.

"Violation" means a violation of any provision of the Act, or any rule or regulation, administrative order, or facility-wide permit adopted or issued pursuant to the Act.

N.J. Admin. Code § 7:1K-1.5

Amended by R.1994 d.51, effective 2/7/1994.
See: 25 N.J.R. 1849(a), 26 N.J.R. 842(a).
Amended by R.2000 d.118, effective 3/20/2000.
See: 31 N.J.R. 4187(a), 32 N.J.R. 1001(a).
In "Form DEQ-114" substituted "Release and Pollution Prevention Report (RPPR)" for "reporting"; and inserted "Standard Industrial Classification (SIC)" and "U.S. EPA".
Special amendment, R.2004 d.87, effective 1/28/2004 (to expire August 15, 2004).
See: 36 N.J.R. 1233(a).
Rewrote "Industrial facility"; deleted "Standard Industrial Classification (SIC)".
Administrative correction.
See: 36 N.J.R. 2762(b).
Adopted concurrent amendment, R.2004 d.330, effective 7/29/2004.
See: 36 N.J.R. 1233(a), 36 N.J.R. 4127(b).
Provisions of R.2004 d.87 adopted without change.
Amended by R.2005 d.317, effective 9/19/2005.
See: 37 N.J.R. 984(a), 37 N.J.R. 3637(c).
Added definition "Grace period" and substituted "Right to Know" for "Permit Coordination" in definition "Office".
Notice of readoption with technical change.
See: 46 N.J.R. 353(a)
Amended by 53 N.J.R. 76(a), effective 1/4/2021