Toxic Catastrophe Prevention Act (TCPA) Program

Facilities in the State of New Jersey where an extraordinarily hazardous substance (EHS) may be present or generated at or above regulatory levels are subject to the Toxic Catastrophe Prevention Act, (N.J.S.A. 13:1K-19 et seq.) and the regulations arising from the Act as codified in N.J.A.C. 7:31. The TCPA program provides assistance to covered facilities, and verifies compliance with N.J.A.C. 7:31.

The TCPA Program has been delegated by the United States Environmental Protection Agency to implement the Federal ARP rules developed under Section 112r of the Clean Air Act (40CFR68). Our program performs the following duties:

  • Reviews risk management plans
  • Reviews inherently safer technology reports
  • Audits risk management programs
  • Inspects regulated facilities
  • Administers enforcement actions
NJ Risk Management Plan Information
TCPA Fees
TitleDescriptionLast Updated
Notice of Availability of Annual TCPA Fee Schedule Report for Fiscal Year (FY) 2025 This is a courtesy copy of the February 18, 2025 New Jersey Register TCPA Fee Notice.February 2025
Annual TCPA Fee Schedule Report for Fiscal Year 2025 This report details the calculations and inputs regarding the number of facilities, covered processes, EHS inventories, and TCPA spending plan (budget) to establish the 2025 annual TCPA fees.February 2025
Rules & Regulations
TitleDescriptionLast Updated
2019 EPA 40 CFR Part 68 Rule Amendment Summary This table is intended to assist regulated TCPA facilities in understanding how they are impacted by the December 19, 2019, amendments to EPA’s RMP Rule, 40 CFR Part 68. The table indicated the effective dates of the amendments, which provisions are incorporated by the TCPA Program, the actions required by TCPA registrants, and the time frame to complete those actions.September 2020
2017 EPA 40 CFR Part 68 Rule Amendment Summary This table is intended to assist regulated TCPA facilities in understanding how they are impacted by the January 13, 2017, amendments to EPA’s RMP Rule, 40 CFR Part 68. The table indicated the effective dates of the amendments, which provisions are incorporated by the TCPA Program, the actions required by TCPA registrants, and the time frame to complete those actions.January 2019
N.J.A.C. 7:31- Toxic Catastrophe Prevention Act Program RulesA courtesy copy of N.J.A.C. 7:31, Toxic Catastrophe Prevention Act rules, contains the text as it appears in the New Jersey Administrative Code. The second version of N.J.A.C. 7:31, Toxic Catastrophe Prevention Act rules, showing the text of the Department’s rules, as well as the text of the Federal regulations at 40 CFR Part 68, which is incorporated by reference, is under revision in consideration of 2017, 2019, and 2024 amendments to 40 CFR 68.February 2016
Toxic Catastrophe Prevention Act Program Rules Notice of Readoption This is a courtesy copy of the Notice of Readoption with Technical Changes of the TCPA Program rules, N.J.A.C. 7:31. The official version of the Notice was published in the November 7, 2022, New Jersey Register. Should there be any discrepancies between the text in the courtesy copy and the official version of the Notice, the official version will govern.November 2022
Notes from Department’s public workshop on the 2009 Rule Readoption and Amendments Reviewing key regulatory changes and their application.June 2009
Frequently Asked Questions about the 2009 Rule Readoption and Amendments Addressing threshold quantities, rule applicability, process hazard analysis with risk assessment (PHA/RA), the transition from Program 2 to Program 3, and other topics.January 2010
TCPA Rule Readoption with Amendments Published in the New Jersey Register March 16, 2009. pdf format. This download originates from the DEP Rules and Regulations web site.March 2009
Proposal for TCPA Rule Readoption with Amendments Published in the New Jersey Register September 15, 2008. pdf format. This download originates from the DEP Rules and Regulations web site.September 2008
Rule Adoption for Inherently Safer Technology (IST) Review Published in the May 5, 2008, New Jersey Register. Includes Responses to Comments. This download originates from the DEP Rules and Regulations web site.March 2007
Rule Proposal for Inherently Safer Technology (IST) Review This is the original proposal for the rule adoption described above. It is not the final rule. This download originates from the DEP Rules and Regulations web site.March 2007
TCPA Rule Amendment Adoption Regarding Grace Periods Published in the April 17, 2006, New Jersey Register. Including Responses to CommentsApril 2006
TCPA Rule Amendment Proposal Regarding Grace Periods Proposal to amend the TCPA Program rules, N.J.A.C. 7:31, to identify violations of the TCPA Program rules as either minor or non-minor for the purpose of providing grace periods in accordance with P.L. 1995, c. 296, N.J.S.A. 13:1D-125 et seq., commonly known as the Grace Period Law.May 2005
TCPA Rule Readoption 2003 N.J.A.C. 7:31, including responses to comments. (As adopted August 2003)August 2003
Toxic Catastrophe Prevention Act N.J.S.A.13:1K-19 et seq.January 8, 1986
Inherently Safer Technology Review

Facilities regulated by the TCPA program must perform Inherently Safer Technology reviews.

TitleDescriptionLast Updated
Guidance for Toxic Catastrophe Prevention Act (TCPA) Inherently Safer Technology (IST) Review This guidance document assists owner/operators in understanding the requirements for performing the IST Review and preparing and submitting the IST Review report.September 2017
IST Implementation Summary Reviewing the Department’s experiences with the program during 2008 and 2009. It documents that IST evaluation successfully identified cost effective and technically feasible alternatives at many facilities.January 2010
IST Implementation Summary Provides an update of the Department’s 2010 IST Implementation Summary for TCPA facilities’ IST studies conducted from 2016 through 2021. It documents that IST evaluation continued to successfully identify cost effective and technically feasible alternatives at many facilities.July 2022
Four presentations given during the Bureau’s IST Review Workshop on June 17, 2008, are available for download.June 2008
Compliance Audit Checklists
TitleDescriptionLast Updated
TCPA Compliance Audit Checklist Facility owner/operators must perform annual compliance audits to ensure that the procedures and practices mandated by N.J.A.C. 7:31 are being implemented. To facilitate these risk management program audits, the TCPA program has prepared the following Microsoft Excel spreadsheet checklists to assist in completion of these audits.March 2017

The use of the TCPA Compliance Audit Checklist is not mandated by the rules. Please note that the TCPA rules require a final compliance audit report that contains additional information about the audit. (See 40 CFR 68.79 (c) and (d) incorporated with changes at N.J.A.C.7:31-4.1(c)14 and 23.) The Checklist alone does not meet that requirement. If you conduct any other audit(s) that encompass the Risk Management Program of a TCPA covered process and identify findings related to a covered process and rule requirements or become aware of Risk Management Program deficiencies through another means such as a regulatory inspection, you must include those findings and actions taken to address them as part of the TCPA compliance audit and report if they remain open at the time of the TCPA audit. Other audits may include internal company audits, third party audits and audits for other regulatory or insurance purposes.

Annual Report Guidance
TitleDescriptionLast Updated
Guidelines for TCPA Annual Reports As described in N.J.A.C. 7:31, each owner or operator of a process covered under Program 3 must submit an annual report. This document provides additional information on the content and preparation of these reports.August 2021
Special Topics Guidance
TitleDescriptionLast Updated
Documentation Plan Template As part of the management system, a facility must have a documentation plan that is a list of all documents required by the TCPA rules. The documentation plan must include the title, identification number, and storage location for each document. The Documentation Plan Template is a suggested format to be used for the documentation plan to help facilities comply with this requirement.December 2017
Guidance on Identifying Process Safety Incidents This guidance document assists owner/operators in understanding what incidents must be investigated and how to improve their management systems to identify those incidents when they occur.April 2016
Guidance on Process Hazard Analysis with Risk Assessment This guidance document assists owner/operators in conducting and reporting process hazard analysis with risk assessments.September 2016
Guidance on Offsite Consequence Analysis Toxic Endpoint for New Jersey EHS’s This guidance document assists owner/operators in obtaining the concentration endpoint to use for their RMP’s worst case and alternative release scenarios when New Jersey-only EHS’s are involved, specifically those not listed by the EPA in 40 CFR 68.May 2016
Guidance on Hazard Assessment for Reactive Hazard Substances (RHS) and RHS Mixtures This guidance document assists owner/operators in conducting their RMP’s worst case and alternative release scenarios for RHS and RHS mixtures.March 2017
Guidance for TCPA New Covered Processes This guidance document assists owner/operators to understand the TCPA rule requirements when constructing a new covered process or when utilizing existing equipment for a new covered process.July 2019
Guidance for Determining the Applicability of the TCPA Program Rules This guidance document helps owner/operators determine when a threshold quantity of an Extraordinarily Hazardous Substance is present at a facility.June 2022
Administrative Order NO. 2005-05-Employee Participation Establishing provisions for employee participation during site inspections conducted by the TCPA Program.September 2005
TCPA Program - Employee Participation Fact Sheet Describes the employee participation activities that the Department and owners and operators must perform pursuant to Administrative Order No. 2005-05.May 2019
Confidential Information Claim Form Any documents that a facility seeks to claim as confidential pursuant to N.J.A.C. 7:31-10 must be accompanied by this form when submitted to the Department. All required information must be provided.August 2011
Integrated Contingency Plan Guidance (One Plan) Federal Register Vol. 61, No. 109, 28642-28664, guidance from USEPA’s National Response Team to aid facilities to prepare emergency response plans.June 1996
Transfer of Ownership
TitleDescriptionLast Updated
Transfer of Ownership Consent Agreement Addendum N.J.A.C. 7:31-7.4(a) and (b) require that, in the event of the transfer of the covered process to a new owner or operator, change in ownership or the name of an owner or operator, the new owner or operator must adopt the existing, approved TCPA Risk Management Program or obtain a new, approved TCPA Risk Management Program for the covered process before operating EHS equipment. To adopt the existing approved Risk Management Program from the former owner or operator, the new owner or operator must submit an updated Risk Management Plan registration and sign an addendum to the former owner or operator’s initial consent agreement. To facilitate the adoption of the existing approved Risk Management Program from the former owner or operator, the new owner or operator should complete, sign, and submit the above Transfer of Ownership Consent Agreement Addendum along with the updated Risk Management Plan registration. If the new owner or operator wishes to adopt a new Risk Management Program, please contact the TCPA Program to review what must be completed.February 2024
TCPA ID Number Request Form

Transfer of Ownership Consent Agreement 		If the transfer of ownership involves a spinoff in which the predecessor owner/operator is transferring part of the TCPA facility to a successor owner/operator, thus creating an additional TCPA facility, the successor owner/operator must first obtain a new TCPA ID# by submitting to the Department a TCPA Identification Number Request Form.  After obtaining the new TCPA ID#, the successor owner/operator must submit a Risk Management Plan using the Department’s eNJRMP online service and a completed Transfer of Ownership Consent Agreement.February 2024
Transfer of Ownership (Merger) Consent Agreement Addendum If the transfer of ownership involves a merger in which two existing TCPA facilities are merging to a single owner/operator, the successor owner/operator must submit a Risk Management Plan using the Department’s eNJRMP online service and a completed Transfer of Ownership Consent Agreement to incorporate the covered processes from the second facility.February 2024
Questions or Comments?
Contact the Bureau of Release Prevention