New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP) has proposed new soil remediation standards. The Brownfield and Contaminated Site Remediation Act (”Brownfields Act”) directs the Department to adopt minimum remediation standards for soil, ground water and surface water necessary for the remediation of contaminated sites.

Polychlorinated biphenyls, more commonly known as PCBs, are so hazardous that the United States government banned their usage in 1977.  Most people associate PCBs with oils used to cool industrial electrical transformers, and do not realize that some common caulking materials used in American buildings contained PCBs, until they were banned in the late 1970s.  The United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA), considers PCBs found in concentrations greater than fifty (50) ppm as hazardous.

The existence of PCBs-based caulking materials in American buildings of all types and sizes is fairly common, with one study by the Harvard School of Public Health finding PCBs-based caulking materials that exceed the USEPA fifty (50) ppm limit in one-third of the buildings examined.  Furthermore, the study found elevated PCBs levels in air samples both within the rooms of the buildings that contained PCBs-based caulking materials and the building’s ventilation systems.