Enviropedia

Delaware Environmental Laws

CLEAN WATER ACT & STATE NPDES PERMIT PROGRAM

DNREC’s Division of Water broadly focuses on matters of water protection, including water supply, surface water, groundwater, and wetlands. The Water Supply section issues permits for wells and water allocations, and licenses water well contractors. The Surface Water Discharge section issues permits for wastewater treatment and stormwater treatment, and licenses wastewater treatment operators. An important component of this section is administration of Delaware’s National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (“NPDES”) permit program. The NPDES permit program is a component of the Federal Clean Water Act, which EPA has delegated to DNREC to administer. Delaware’s NPDES permit program regulates point source discharges into the waters of Delaware to promote attainment of Delaware water quality standards. Additionally, the Delaware River Basin Commission, a compact between Delaware, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and the Federal government, has promulgated regulations that apply to discharges in the Delaware River Watershed, which includes the State of Delaware. See 18 C.F.R. § 410.

DELAWARE WASTE MANAGEMENT

Delaware’s waste management is regulated primarily by the Delaware Solid Waste Authority, a regulatory agency established by Title 7, Chapter 64 of the Delaware Code. Pursuant to Title 7, the Delaware Solid Waste Authority is tasked with overseeing collection and disposal all of Delaware’s municipal solid waste, and is in charge of Delaware’s “statewide solid waste management plan.” See Title 7, § 6403. DNREC’s Division of Waste and Hazardous Substances also issues permits to transport solid waste, and permits and inspects landfills. This division is also responsible for regulation of the vast universe of hazardous waste. Similar to the federal Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (“RCRA”), for a substance to be regulated, it must first be waste, and then must be hazardous waste, meaning it is either listed, or displays characteristic of hazardous waste such as ignitability, corrosivity, reactivity, and toxicity. See 7 Del. Admin. Code § 1302, Part 261 Subpart A. This division also regulates installation, operation, and closure of underground and aboveground storage tanks, and oversees cleanup of releases from both types of tanks. The Delaware Code regulates both types of tanks under the Delaware Underground Storage Tank Act (7 Del. C. § 74 et seq.) and the Jeffrey Davis Aboveground Storage Tank Act (7 Del. C. § 74A et seq.), and related regulations. DNREC provides the Delaware Environmental Navigator (nav.dnrec.delaware.gov), which provides an online searchable directory of regulated facilities and programs, including above and underground storage tanks.

DELAWARE RECYCLING LAWS

Delaware uses a single-stream, recycling program known as the Universal Recycling Regulations. In single stream recycling programs, items that are recyclable may be comingled for pickup. There are two major sources of law in Delaware governing recycling: Delaware Statutory Code, Title 7 Chapter 60, §6051-6059, and the Delaware Administrative Code, Section 1305 Universal Recycling Regulations. The Delaware Code is created by the Delaware legislature, which directs administrative agencies to implement the Code. In Chapter 60, the Delaware legislature stated that the intent of the Universal Recycling laws was to establish “a comprehensive statewide system of recycling and resource recovery which maximizes the quantity of solid waste materials which can be recovered, reused or converted to beneficial use.” In that chapter, the Delaware legislature tasks DNREC with ensuring that “proper collection services for recyclable materials are implemented, maintained, and consistent” with the Chapter 60 statutory provisions.

Delaware also implemented a plastic bag ban on January 1, 2021. Plastic bags should not be put in recycling for pickup, and instead retail establishments are required to accept plastic bags for recycling.

Click here to read more about Delaware’s recycling laws.

CERCLA-RELATED LAWS IN DELAWARE

DNREC’s Division of Waste and Hazardous Substances focuses on compliance with waste and hazardous substance laws, regulates storage tanks, and also leads investigation and clean up of contaminated sites in Delaware. The remediation section of DNREC’s division of waste and hazardous substances administers and enforces the Delaware Hazardous Substances Cleanup Act (“HSCA”) (7 Del. C. § 9101 et seq.). This state statute is akin to the Federal Comprehensive Environmental Response Compensation and Liability Act (“CERCLA”), as it pairs liability for releases of hazardous substances to current and prior owners and operators of property. The remediation section, as its name implies, directs cleanup actions, and administers Delaware’s Brownfield and Voluntary Cleanup programs. The Brownfield program takes place prior to transfer of title to real property, and results in a release of liability for the party who takes title to contaminated property, provided that entity did not contribute to the contamination and agrees to complete specified remediation work as contained in the Brownfield agreement negotiated with DNREC. Similarly, the Voluntary Cleanup Program aims to resolve liability for the owner of contaminated property, conditioned on that entity completing remediation as specified in the agreement with DNREC.  

CLIMATE CHANGE LAWS

DNREC’s Division of Climate, Coastal, and Energy’s mission is to provide leadership towards sustainable communities and environments, with a goal of mitigating climate change and preparing Delaware’s infrastructure, natural resources, economy, and people for the effect of climate change, among others. Legislation unique to Delaware is the Coastal Zone Act and related regulations, which regulates new and existing manufacturing and industrial activities in Delaware’s coastal zone. See 7 Del. C. § 7001 et seq.; 7 Del. Admin. Code § 101. Delaware’s Coastal Zone essentially runs the length of Delaware’s coast, and is defined as “…land, water or subaqueous land between the territorial limits of Delaware in the Delaware River, Delaware Bay and Atlantic Ocean, and a line formed by certain Delaware highways and roads[.]” 7 Del. C. § 7002(i). Commercial and industrial development in the coastal zone likely require a coastal zone permit from DNREC. 

STATE AND NATIONAL PARK SERVICE LAWS

DNREC’s Division of Parks and Recreation manages Delaware’s state parks, nature preserves, and conservation easements, while its division of Fish and Wildlife manages Delaware wildlife and their habitat, and also issues licenses for fishing, hunting, and boating. The division of Parks and Recreation issues the popular surf fishing license plate program in Delaware, allowing a plate holder to drive directly onto designated beach areas.

Delaware currently maintains three state forests, totaling more than 20,000 acres: Blackbird State Forest, Taber State Forest, and Redden State Forest. The forests are managed for a variety of objectives including: timber production, wildlife habitat enhancement, forest management demonstration, and recreational opportunities.

ENERGY LAWS

Delaware’s Renewable Energy Portfolio Standards Act sets Delaware’s renewable energy portfolio standards regarding electricity. 26 Del. C. § 351. The act sets annually increasing minimum cumulative percentage of power delivered to Delaware customers that must come from eligible energy resources (e.g., solar, wind, ocean energy, geothermal, fuel cell, gas from anaerobic digestion of organic material, hydroelectric, and combustion of biomass) and solar photovoltaic.