AG Platkin and DEP Commissioner LaTourette Announce Filing of Three Environmental Enforcement Actions in Overburdened Communities, Settlement of Past Lawsuit

TRENTON – New Jersey Attorney General Matthew J. Platkin and Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) Commissioner Shawn M. LaTourette announced three new environmental enforcement actions in communities considered overburdened under New Jersey’s Environmental Justice Law.

The three enforcement actions filed today involve defendants who ran illegal junkyard or solid waste facilities in Hamilton, Kearny, and Woodbridge. Another action announced today involves a spray drying facility located directly outside of several overburdened communities in Middlesex Borough.

Attorney General Platkin and Commissioner LaTourette also announced that the State has settled a lawsuit it had previously filed against an auto recycler in Trenton. As part of the settlement, KAARS, Inc., and its owner agreed, among other things, to resolve hazardous waste storage violations, comply with its permit conditions, and pay $100,000 in penalties to DEP.

Including the cases announced today, the Attorney General and DEP have filed 75 environmental justice cases or actions since 2018. The Attorney General and DEP file environmental enforcement actions in all parts of the state. This initiative, started by the Murphy Administration, highlights enforcement in response to environmental violations in “overburdened communities” under New Jersey’s Environmental Justice Law which have historically seen more pollution and contamination but less environmental enforcement than other communities.

“Every resident in every community of our state deserves to live free from environmental harm. That’s what environmental justice means, and it’s why we remain fully committed to this critical work,” said Attorney General Platkin. “When we enforce our laws and hold violators of the law accountable, we help vulnerable neighborhoods recover from disproportionate exposure to pollution and environmental harm. We are grateful for DEP’s work in close collaboration with our office, and we will continue our work together to rid our state of this toxic legacy.”

“Today’s enforcement actions embody DEP’s sustained commitment to confronting the historic injustices that have harmed already overburdened communities with a disproportionate amount of pollution,” said Commissioner LaTourette. “My DEP colleagues and I thank Attorney General Platkin for his partnership in using all available legal tools to hold polluters accountable, address environmental threats, and protect vulnerable communities.”

The environmental justice enforcement actions announced today include three cases involving environmental harms in overburdened communities:

• NJDEP v. Faulk: The State has filed a lawsuit against several defendants associated with the estate of Harold Faulk who are, or have previously been, responsible for a 12-acre Kearny property that has become an enormous illegal junkyard. The lawsuit alleges that the Hudson County site has violated several land use, solid waste, hazardous waste, and water pollution laws and regulations. The State seeks an order compelling the defendants to remove all solid waste, to cease all regulated activities that are occurring without permits, to remove unpermitted fill, to restore the property, and to pay civil penalties and the costs of bringing the suit, among other things.

• NJDEP v. Hakim International Trading and Marketing: The State also filed a complaint against Hakim International Trading and Marketing, Hakim Enterprises, and Joseph Hakim, who is the sole officer and president of both companies. The complaint alleges that the defendants unlawfully operated a solid waste management facility, unlawfully operated a hazardous waste management facility, and stored unsecured material in a Flood Hazard Area. The litigation seeks an order compelling the cleanup of flammable and asbestos-containing hazardous waste on an approximately 2-acre site on Whitehead Road in Hamilton, Mercer County.

• NJDEP v. Spector-Woodbridge: The State filed a motion in Superior Court seeking a contempt order against a group of defendants, including Spector-Woodbridge Company, LLC, and its owner, William Spector. The motion alleges that defendants failed to comply with two previous judicial consent orders and asks the court to order appropriate sanctions to force compliance. The State alleges that the defendants have dumped unauthorized fill and illegal solid waste on the property, located at Pennval Road and Berry Street in Woodbridge, Middlesex County, which contains freshwater wetlands, freshwater wetlands transition areas, and waterfront development areas.

In addition to these enforcement actions, the State also issued an administrative order and notice of violation against Spray-Tek, Inc., which operates a spray drying facility located directly outside of several overburdened communities in Middlesex Borough, Middlesex County. Spray drying is a process that converts liquid materials into dry powders by rapidly evaporating moisture through the application of heated air. The order finds that Spray-Tek has operated spray drying equipment without the necessary pollution control equipment. The order seeks to compel Spray-Tek to bring its dryer back into compliance by reinstalling the necessary pollution control equipment and to pay $239,700 of civil administrative penalties. Spray-Tek has requested a hearing before the Office of Administrative Law.

Finally, the State settled a 2021 lawsuit filed against Trenton auto recycling facility KAARS, Inc., and its owner, Isam Abuhumoud. The lawsuit had alleged that KAARS’s poor management of auto scrap, chemicals, and other wastes resulted in uncontrolled pollutant discharges and violated the Water Pollution Control Act, the Solid Waste Management Act, the Spill Compensation and Control Act, and the facility’s New Jersey Pollution Discharge Elimination System permit. As part of the settlement announced today, KAARS has agreed to resolve its hazardous waste storage violations, comply with its permit conditions, and pay $100,000 in penalties to DEP for its repeated violations. KAARS has also agreed to install necessary building and drainage controls to prevent off-site pollution from its scrapping activities and to remove improperly stored hazardous materials from the site.

To view photos of the sites, click here.

The enforcement actions and case outcomes announced today are being handled by the Environmental Enforcement and Environmental Justice Section within the Division of Law’s Affirmative Civil Enforcement Practice Group. Those handling the cases include: Section Chief Gary Wolf; Assistant Section Chiefs Kevin Fleming, James LaBianca, and Thomas Lihan; and Deputy Attorneys General Sydney Byers, Soorim Song, William O’Brien, Nanette Liu, Dianna Shinn, Brix Fowler, and William Rozell, under the supervision of Deputy Director Paul Stofa. In addition, these cases could not have been filed without the assistance of staff from the following DEP program areas: Air, Energy and Materials Sustainability; Contaminated Site Remediation and Redevelopment, including Gillian Schwert under the supervision of Assistant Director Ann Wolf; Watershed and Land Management; Water Resource Management; the Office of Environmental Justice; and the Office of Enforcement Policy.

A resource explaining New Jersey’s environmental justice enforcement actions, including an interactive map and links to NJ DEP environmental justice resources, is available at https://www.njoag.gov/securing-environmental-justice/. 

The Attorney General and the Commissioner ask for the public’s help in bringing environmental enforcement actions in overburdened communities and in all communities in New Jersey. If you are aware of an action that you suspect may negatively impact human health or the environment, please report the action using the WARN DEP app or by calling 1-800-WARN-DEP (1-800-927-6337) or email environmentaljustice@dep.nj,gov.

###