Formal Regulatory Petition Will Force DEP To Respond
NJ Must Take Control Over Its Own Destiny
There will be no more hiding behind inaction and diversionary good news press releases.
I filed a petition for rulemaking to force DEP to respond (provided below). The petition seeks to have DEP and/or the Attorney General (or even Governor) take regulatory action to block the Trump EPA from rolling back critical Clean Air Act protections in New Jersey, including industrial emissions of toxic hazardous air pollutants linked to cancer and other illness.
The Murphy DEP will now have to respond officially, in writing, published in the NJ Register, on their detailed legal, scientific, and regulatory policy positions on Trump Clean Air rollbacks.
To date, the Murphy Administration has completely ignored Project 2025 and relied on after the fact individual lawsuits filed by the Attorney General to respond to Trump’s numerous Executive Orders and EPA regulatory moves that openly attack critical environmental and public health protections.
As I wrote on March 18 (see: A Handful Of Lawsuits Will Not Protect NJ’s Environment And Public Health), individual case by case lawsuits will not stop Trump’s attack on environmental protections. Lawsuits are reactive, slow, and even if successful provide very narrow victories. They also fail to involve the public. No need to take my word for all that, read this excellent Washington Post Op-Ed by law professors from Harvard and Yale (published on March 20) who agree with me:
The regulatory petition mechanism is authorized by the NJ Administrative Procedure Act. Rule petitions are an excellent tool to hold DEP accountable and to bring public awareness to the fact that there are numerous major loopholes in current environmental regulations and that the DEP is not implementing strict regulatory protections that are allowed under current law. Perhaps the best recent example of this was the petition filed by Empower NJ and climate activists to force DEP to adopt a moratorium on new fossil infrastructure. DEP denied that, of course.
My current petition is one component of the strategy I’ve been trying to get support for, see:
Having States use existing State environmental laws to block Trump EPA rollbacks should be part of a national strategy in States with Democratic Governors. The rule petition mechanism could be a model for that, or it could be done legislatively.
Here is the clean air petition – readers might be shocked at the incredible scope of EPA’s exemption program and the toxic emissions involved – and this is only the beginning.
We’ll post DEP’s official Notice of Acceptance soon. Unfortunately, the DEP does not allow or consider public comments on rule petitions (a serious problem I am trying to get legislators to fix).
———- Original Message ———-
From: Bill WOLFE <b>
To: Press, Stephanie [DEP], shawn.latourette@dep.nj.gov
Cc: Abatemarco, Melissa [DEP], Fenderson-Singh, Nateshea [DEP], senbsmith <SenBSmith@njleg.org>, sengreenstein <sengreenstein@njleg.org>, senmckeon@njleg.org, senzwicker@njleg.org, Hansen, Eric
Date: 03/28/2025 11:54 AM EDT
Subject: Petition For Rulemaking submission
PETITION FOR RULEMAKING – Submitted VIA EMAIL
This petition for rulemaking is submitted in accordance with the NJ Administrative Procedure Act and in substantial compliance with NJAC 7:1D-1 PETITIONS FOR RULES,
March 28, 2025
Shawn LaTourette, Commissioner
New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection
401 East State Street
P.O. Box 402
Re: Petition for Rule making
Petition for DEP to adopt emergency rules and/or regulations and to invoke enforcement discretion to not recognize under NJ State law EPA Exemptions issued pursuant to section 112(i)(4) of the Clean Air Act.
The scope of this petition applies to the following EPA regulations and permits (hereby “Exemption rules”):
- “National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants: Coal- and Oil-Fired Electric Utility Steam Generating Units Review of the Residual Risk and Technology Review” (89 FR 38508; May 7, 2024) (MATS Rule)
- “New Source Performance Standards for the Synthetic Organic Chemical Manufacturing Industry and National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants for the Synthetic Organic Chemical Manufacturing Industry and Group I & II Polymers and Resins” (89 FR 42932; May 16, 2024) (HON rule);
- “National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants: Ethylene Oxide Emissions Standards for Sterilization Facilities Residual Risk and Technology Review” (89 FR 24090; April 5, 2024) (Sterilizer Rule);
- “National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants: Rubber Tire Manufacturing” (89 FR 94886; November 29, 2024) (Rubber Tire Rule);
- “National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants: Primary Copper Smelting Residual Risk and Technology Review and Primary Copper Smelting Area Source Technology Review” (89 FR 41648; May 13, 2024) (Copper Rule);
- “National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants: Integrated Iron and Steel Manufacturing Facilities Technology Review” (89 FR 23294; April 3, 2024) (Iron and Steel Rule);
- “National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants: Lime Manufacturing Plants Technology Review” (89 FR 57738; July 16, 2024) (Lime Rule);
- “National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants for Coke Ovens: Pushing, Quenching, and Battery Stacks, and Coke Oven Batteries; Residual Risk and Technology Review, and Periodic Technology Review” (89 FR 55684; July 5, 2024) (Coke Ovens Rule); and
- “National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants: Taconite Iron Ore Processing” (89 FR 16408; March 6, 2024) (Taconite Rule).
Dear Commissioner LaTourette:
Please accept this letter petition for rulemaking pursuant to N.J.S.A.52:14B-1 et seq.
This letter petition is filed pursuant to N.J.S.A. 52:14B-4, which provides that:
“(f) An interested person may petition an agency to adopt a new rule, or amend or repeal any existing rule. Each agency shall prescribe by rule the form for the petition and the procedure for the submission, consideration and disposition of the petition. The petition shall state clearly and concisely:
(1) The substance or nature of the rule-making which is requested;
(2) The reasons for the request and the petitioner’s interest in the request;
(3) References to the authority of the agency to take the requested action.”
I) Rule-Making requested and the petitioner’s interest in it
I submit this petition to advance the public interest, to protect human health and the environment, and to promote compliance with applicable laws and regulations and government accountability. I am a former professional at DEP (14 years), served for 7 years as Policy Director of the NJ Chapter of Sierra Club, and for 10 years as Director of NJ Chapter of Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility.
The petition seeks the following regulatory activity with respect to the “Exemption rules”:
1) proposal and adoption of regulations that incorporate by reference the “Exemption rules” as State rules pursuant to the NJ State Air Pollution Control Act;
2) proposal and adoption of regulations to not recognize any permit or related exemptions issued by the US EPA pursuant to section 112(i)(4) of the Clean Air Act;
3) issuance of permit and/or enforcement Guidance to air pollution sources and permits regulated under the “Exemption rules” that over-rides and refuses to recognize exemptions issued by US EPA under the “Exemption rules”; and
4) Based on the most feasible and enforceable mechanisms, to take appropriate administrative actions to adopt enforceable requirements to block implementation of US EPA exemptions issued under the Exemption rules, including but not limited to:
a) Governor’s Executive Order or declaration of a public health emergency putting permittees on Notice that the EPA exemption program does not apply in New Jersey;
b) DEP Commissioner’s Administrative Order or Permit or Enforcement Guidance, putting permittees on Notice that the EPA exemption program does not apply in New Jersey;
c) Emergency rulemaking procedures to incorporate the Exemption rules, absent the EPA exemption program, under NJ State rules;
d) traditional Notice and Comment rulemaking to incorporate the Exemption rules, absent the EPA exemption program, under NJ State rules;
e) Attorney General legal opinion that the EPA exemption program does not apply in New Jersey.
II) Rationale for the request
The Trump EPA enacted a program to authorize “Clean Air Act Section 112 Presidential Exemptions”, see:
The subject EPA program would exempt air pollution sources from the requirements of the “Exemption rules”.
Those Exemption program regulations established requirements and those regulations were adopted by US EPA based on science and law in order to protect the public health, environment, and welfare from air pollution, including emissions of hazardous air pollutants that are known to cause cancer.
I hereby incorporate by reference into this petition the basis and background documents, scientific basis, and administrative records for the Exemption rules. I urge the DEP to rely on these documents as the basis for State regulations.
The EPA exemption program would apply to many air pollution sources in NJ.
The EPA exemption program would create unacceptable risks to public health if implemented in NJ.
The DEP must act in order to prevent the harms that would result from implementation of the EPA exemption program in NJ.
Additionally, the EPA Exemption program is, at best, an abuse of authority under the Clean Air Act. It contradicts the best available science and EPA’s own scientific and regulatory findings relied on to support adoption of Exemption program rules, and is thus arbitrary, capricious and an abuse of discretion. It also provides no public participation, and thus violates the public’s due process rights.
III) Authority of the agency to take the requested action
The DEP has authority and responsibility to prevent these harms pursuant to the NJ State Air Pollution Control Act and DEP’s organic authority, NJSA 13:1D et seq. The Department also is authorized to adopt the requested regulations pursuant to NJSA 13:1B-1 et seq.
As noted above, there are various administrative mechanisms to implement a NJ State program to block the implementation of EPA’s exemptions under applicable NJ State laws.
We look forward to your timely and favorable consideration of this petition request. We reserve the right to revise and extend this submission.
Sincerely,
Bill Wolfe
Citizen