Relates to notification of discharge by the department of environmental conservation

BILL NUMBER:S1979

Title of bill

An act to amend the navigation law, in relation to notification of discharge by the department of environmental conserva- tion

Summary of provisions

Section 1 amends § 175 of the Navigation Law to require the Department of Environmental Conservation, after a petroleum discharge or spill, to notify the surrounding landowners and tenants. Section 2 enumerates the effective date.

Justification

Despite major and minor underground spills or discharges of petroleum in New York, there is no statutory requirement that the Department of Environmental Conservation ("DEC") notify surrounding property owners or tenants. New York State has approximately 52,000 storage facilities which involve an estimated 125,000 bulk storage tanks. Leaks and spills occur as a result of poor housekeeping, over- filling of tanks, loading and unloading mistakes, and poor maintenance and inspection. According to the DEC, each year it receives approximate- ly 16,000 reports of confirmed and suspected releases to the environment - roughly 90%. of the spills reported involve petroleum products.

In 2001, for example, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency ("EPA") inspected 33 mid-Hudson Valley gasoline service stations. With addi- tional information provided by the owner of the stations, the EPA deter- mined that 60 gas stations were operating tanks in violation of federal law. The stations serve twenty New York counties. In 1993, in Flanders, gasoline fumes in a residential basement helped DEC to determine that anywhere between 100 and 1,000 gallons of petroleum had leaked from an underground storage tank for a nearby gasoline service station, Private wells were tested and determined to be contaminated. Private drinking water wells are the primary source of potable water for businesses and residences near the station. Additional statewide examples, large and small, exist including the Gowanus Canal in Brooklyn, Newtown Creek in Queens, New Windsor and Liberty in Orange County. Underground storage tanks range in capacity from a few hundred to 50,000 or more gallons, and are used to store gasoline, heating oil and other fuels, waste oil and hazardous substances at gas stations, marinas, government facilities and large industrial sites. Leaks from tanks often contaminate the soil around the tanks, and can cause unhealthy gasoline vapors to settle into the basements of private homes and apartment buildings.

Underground storage tanks have historically been the nation's number one source of ground water contamination, with over 500,000 confirmed releases and spills reported nationwide as of 2011. EPA and states' underground storage tank regulations were put in place to prevent releases of petroleum, and, if a release does occur, to insure that it is addressed immediately. Surrounding homeowners and tenants should know when that is happening.

Legislative history

2005-06: Senate Environmental Conservation Cmte. 2007-08: Senate Environmental Conservation Cmte. 2009: Environmental Conservation Cmte. 2010: S.4511 - Environmental Conservation Cmte; Notice of Committee Consideration - Requested; Reported and Committed to Finance; Reported and Committed to Rules 2012: S.4678 Environmental Conservation Cmte.

Fiscal implications

None to the state. Costs to be borne by violators.

Effective date

This act shall take effect thirty days after it shall have become a law.