Relates to maple syrup packaging; exempts wash water from maple syrup processing from environmental permit requirements

1 Co-sponsor

• Patrick M. Gallivan

BILL NUMBER:S5499

Title of bill

An act to amend the agriculture and markets law, in relation to consumer packaging of maple syrup; and to amend the environmental conservation law, in relation to wash water from maple syrup processing

Purpose of general idea of bill

To maintain New York's investment in maple syrup production and allow the maple industry to continue to grow by removing unnecessary barriers to success.

Summary of specific provisions

Section one: § 160-u of Agriculture and Markets law is amended to ensure that consumer packaging of maple syrup offered or exposed for sale shall be plainly and conspicuously marked as to the grade.

Section two: § 17-0807 of Environmental Conservation law is amended by adding a new subdivision 5 wash water produced during the process of making maple syrup shall not be considered a pollutant under any state pollutant discharge elimination system permit requirements.

Section three: Immediate effective date.

Justification

This bill recognizes that maple syrup makers and their production process should not be compared with large industrial manufacturers and should be removed from the requirements to obtain a State Pollution Discharge Elimination System (SPDES) permit for their farms.

Like any other industry, the maple industry has become more efficient in their production methods in order to save time and resources. The advent of reverse osmosis machines in the maple industry has allowed producers to remove a considerable amount of water from maple sap before the evaporation process to create maple syrup even begins. This significantly speeds up the syrup production process and therefore dramatically reduces the amount of fuel used during evaporation. In fact, without a reverse osmosis machine, an evaporator uses approximately five gallons of oil in order to make one gallon of maple syrup. Reverse osmosis machines have reduced this equation to less than one gallon of oil to make one gallon of maple syrup. Given the high oil prices we currently are experiencing, these savings can truly add up if an operation is making hundreds of gallons of syrup in a season.

Reverse osmosis machines contain a membrane that performs the needed process to reduce water from maple sap. However, the membrane must be washed periodically in order to ensure that the machine operates properly during the very short maple season. The membrane is typically washed using a process that contains anywhere between ten and forty gallons of water and a very small amount of soap (in fact, using large amounts of soap will damage the membrane).

The Department of Environmental Conservation has determined that the resulting wash water from the reverse osmosis machine cleaning process is an industrial pollutant and the farmer must obtain a SPDES permit to dispose of the water in an acceptable fashion. This means that these maple farms that operate a few weeks a year and use very little water mixed with a minimal amount of soap, must be regulated much like General Electric, Kodak or any other industrial manufacturing plant that disposes of industrial waste in New York.

Prior legislative history

New bill.

Fiscal implications

None.

Effective date

This act shall take effect immediately.