ASSEMBLY AGRICULTURE AND WASTE MANAGEMENT COMMITTEE

STATEMENT TO

ASSEMBLY, No. 496

with committee amendments

STATE OF NEW JERSEY

DATED: JUNE 20, 1996

      The Assembly Agriculture and Waste Management Committee favorably reports Assembly Bill No. 496 with committee amendments.

      As amended, this bill would provide that any municipality bordering on a municipality wherein a resource recovery facility is located shall be entitled to an annual economic benefit, provided that the municipal boundary of the contiguous municipality is within one-half mile of the incinerator building of the facility.

      The amount of the annual economic benefit accorded a contiguous municipality would be negotiated by its governing body and the person holding the franchise for the facility and the contracting unit, or both, as the case may be. The contiguous municipality's annual economic benefit would be separate and distinct from the "host municipality" benefit provided by existing law (i.e. subsection a. of the bill). The bill would also exempt those contracting units which have already negotiated contracts for resource recovery facilities and services, and held public hearings thereon, from the contiguous municipality benefit provisions of the bill.

      The committee amended the bill to define "contiguous municipality" to mean a municipality in which is located the only public roads or highways providing vehicular access to the resource recovery facility. The amendments also provide that if the parties fail to agree upon an annual economic benefit, any party to the failed negotiations may request the Department of Environmental Protection to determine an appropriate benefit, in which case the Commissioner of Environmental Protection shall make that determination and the terms and conditions of any annual economic benefit so determined shall remain subject to the continuing jurisdiction of the department. In making the determination of the annual economic benefit, the commissioner shall consider the level of truck traffic in the contiguous municipality, the proximity of the incinerator building to inhabited areas of the contiguous municipality and the type of land use in the contiguous municipality surrounding the facility. Finally, the amendments exempt: any publicly-owned resource recovery facility; any person holding the franchise for the resource recovery facility which is a pollution control financing authority created pursuant to the "New Jersey Pollution Control Financing Law," P.L.1973, c.376 (C.40:37C-1 et seq.); and any contracting unit which has negotiated a contract for resource recovery facilities or services with a vendor pursuant to the provisions of P.L.1985, c.38 (C.13:1E-136 et al.).

      As amended, this bill would apply only to the Borough of Westville, Gloucester county.

      This bill was pre-filed for introduction in the 1996-1997 session pending technical review. As reported, the bill includes the changes required by technical review, which has been performed.