The New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP) requires any business that is assigned North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) covered codes listed in the New Jersey Worker and Community Right-To-Know (CRTK) regulations, to submit an annual CRTK survey listing the environmentally hazardous materials present at their facilities by March 1 of each year.
The NJDEP requires the survey be filed electronically, but paper copies are still required to be sent to local emergency agencies (e.g., police and fire departments and local emergency planning coordinators).
Dealerships should keep in mind the following, when it comes to determining their Community Right-To-Know reporting obligations:
- If the facility’s chemical storage is below reporting thresholds (500 pounds for most chemicals that are subject to CRTK reporting typically found at a dealership, or 10,000 pounds for diesel fuel or #2 heating oil, gasoline, kerosene, petroleum oil, or waste oil), then the facility only needs to submit an initial CRTK Survey—unless the facility increases its chemical inventory to an amount that triggers the need to file subsequent CRTK reports.
- Dealerships with attached service facilities will likely need to file annual CRTK Surveys, because (for example) in most cases approximately 55 gallons of new and/or used antifreeze, or 25-30 new and/or used batteries stored on site will put the facility over the chemicals thresholds of 500 pounds for ethylene glycol and lead, respectively.
- Dealerships that have centralized service facilities may only have to file the initial CRTK Survey for their sales facilities—depending on what and in what quantities, if any, chemicals are stored at their sales locations.
- Many businesses, including some dealerships, have been “flying under the radar” and have never filed CRTKs, because they are not in NJDEP’s system; however, that does not relieve the business of liability for non-filing of the Survey, if the amount of chemicals stored onsite triggers the reporting obligation.
- Penalties can be as much as $2,500/day for non-compliance with the NJDEP’s CRTK regulation.
To submit your Community Right-To-Know Survey online go to www.njdeponline.com and follow the “NJDEP Online New User Registration Instructions.”
If you have any questions, or need additional assistance with your dealership’s CRTK reporting obligations, please feel free to contact Scott Hubbard of Environmental Compliance Monitoring, Inc. (ECM) at 908.874.0990.