Relates to responsible parties for petroleum contaminated sites and incentives to parties who are willing to remediate such sites

Summary of specific provisions

Section 1 of this bill would amend Navigation Law § 176 paragraph (a) of subdivision 2 to allow a party that the Department has deemed a discharger of a petroleum spill to be able to present evidence that another party is solely responsible for the discharge, and to require the Department to consider and make a determination upon that evidence. This section further provides that if the department determines that the person the department initially deems a discharger and the third party are both dischargers, the department shall, within 30 days of such request, advise each of the parties that are deemed dischargers subject to apportionment of liability for the discharge pursuant to subdivisions one and two of section 180 of this article.

Section 2 of this bill would amend Navigation Law § 176 subdivision 8 to clarify that a party who has otherwise settled a claim for costs or damages related to the discharge of petroleum is entitled to seek contribution from other potentially responsible parties. A new subdivision 9 is created which provides that certain determinations by either the department or the administrator of the spill fund are not subject to challenge in an Article 78 proceeding.

Section 3 of this bill would amend Navigation Law § 180 subdivisions 1 and 2 'to allow for the State Comptroller's Administrator of the spill fund to represent the State at meetings with more than one discharger and to apportion liability among more than one discharger at a meeting or hearing.

Section 4 of this bill would amend Navigation Law § 181 subdivision 1 to include a liability limitation incentive to parties who agree to perform a spill cleanup, A new subdivision 7 would provide for an exemption to liability for prohibited discharges of petroleum to municipalities that involuntarily acquire title to petroleum contaminated property without participating in the development of the site.

Section 5 of this bill would amend Navigation Law § 183 to allow the Administrator to promote and arrange a settlement between the claimant and multiple dischargers and to allow an alleged discharger to present evidence to the Administrator that another party may be wholly or partially responsible for the claim.

Justification

The Navigation Law provisions related to the remediation of petroleum contaminated sites have not been amended since 1992. Often, more than one discharger can be held liable for the cleanup of an oil spill site. The current liability scheme encourages the Department to seek cleanup response costs from a single discharger, which has resulted in burdensome litigation among responsible parties in the aftermath. All too often, a single discharger cannot afford the heavy cost of third party litigation. Where the single discharger is a subsequent owner of a contaminated site, these costs can be unforeseen and in this way the current scheme can be devastating to New York State businesses. This bill levels the playing field and allows the agencies to consider evidence presented by the first named discharger that others either are fully or partially responsible and bring all the potentially responsible dischargers to the table at once. In addition, the bill provides a new incentive in the form of the liability limitation to parties who cooperate with the agencies and proceed with the remediation. These amendments are critical to making remediation procedures more efficient and less burdensome while maintaining the integrity of the State's strict liability scheme.

Prior legislative history

2014 - S.1675

Fiscal implications

These changes will result in more expeditious cleanups of petroleum contaminated sites throughout the State with increased tax revenue from remediated sites. There should be little to no cost to the agencies since significant expenses are now incurred by these agencies through enforcement efforts to secure cleanup cost recovery from the incorrect parties and because tax revenue from the redevelopment of these sites should offset any need for additional staff.

Effective date

This act shall take effect immediately.