[JURIST] Leading Thursday's environmental law brief, the Appellate Division of the New Jersey Superior Court [official website] has ruled [PDF opinion text] that the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP) [official website] has the authority to adopt stormwater rules [NJDEP backgrounder] that create 300 foot buffers along designated reservoirs, rivers, and other waterways. The New Jersey Builders' Association (NJBA) [trade website] had challenged the rules, claiming the NJDEP did not have authority to create "no-build zones." The Court Wednesday upheld NJDEP authority and said the NJBA mischaracterized the buffer zones. Read the NJDEP press release on the ruling. AP has more.

In other environmental law news...

• The US Environmental Protection Agency has announced it will relist the Ringwood Mines/landfill site [EPA backgrounder] on the National Priorities List (Superfund) [official website]. This is the first time a site will be relisted. The 500 acre site in Ringwood New Jersey contains abandoned mine shafts and pits, inactive landfills and was a paint sludge waste disposal site for the Ford Motor Co.'s [corporate website] Mahwah Plant. The site was first listed on the NPL in 1983, and was declared clean enough to be removed in 1994. Ongoing monitoring has prompted additional cleanups since 1994, and relisting the site will allow local residents eligible for federal money for monitoring and reimburse some of New Jersey's oversight expenses. North Jersey Media Group has more.
  
  
• The South Africa Departments of Transport [official website] and Environment Affairs and Tourism [official website] have announced [press release] that the waters off the Cape of Good Hope [Wikipedia profile] have been declared a special area under the International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships [text] by the International Maritime Organization (IMO) [official website]. The IMO is the UN agency with jurisdiction over international shipping and maritime pollution. The declaration will restrict ships from discharging cargo oil residues within 50 nautical miles of the Cape, and will go into effect in February 2008. SAPA has more.