Dear Mayor:

The New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP) will be sending you notice shortly of a meeting on Monday, September 25, 2006, from 9:00 to 12:00 in the First Floor Hearing Room of the NJDEP Building, 401 East State Street, Trenton. The purpose of the meeting is to update you on recent legislation on municipal notification of site remediation and how to access Department data from your municipal offices. The League of Municipalities strongly supports this initiative.

Successful brownfield redevelopment and safe and healthy communities hinges on our work together as partners. The Department recognizes that critical land use decisions made at the municipal level require access to environmental information in a way that is both easily available and simple to use. On September 25, staff from the Information Services Element will explain and demonstrate how you can access contaminated site data through online systems.

Staff from our Office of Community Relations will also go over the new Municipal Notification Law.

(S-1708) signed by Governor Jon Corzine on August 2, 2006. This legislation directs the Department to create rules and regulations requiring notification of municipal clerks, property owners and tenants when certain remediation phases are initiated. The legislation requires the Department to notify you of the existence of "the master list of known hazardous discharge sites" which is also available to the public online at www.nj.gov/dep/srp. The databases listed are dynamic and change over time, so it is important to become familiar with them and to consult them every time you have questions about contaminated sites in your municipality.

We are partners in protecting the environment of New Jersey and League strongly encourages you to attend this meeting with your appropriate municipal officials. Please plan to attend and RSVP to fay.brown@dep.state.nj.us or call the NJDEP Office of Community Relations: 609-633-2269 for more information.