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Sponsors
Senator · Senate District 4
No co-sponsors yet.
History
- Referred to environmental conservation
- Referred to environmental conservation
Companion bill
The same bill in the other chamber. A bill becomes law when one version passes both houses and the governor signs it, so either number can carry it.
Requires landowners to be notified of a petroleum discharge
In Assembly Committee · Environmental Conservation · Sponsor Steven Englebright
Full text
The text isn't available here yet. Check nysenate.gov.
Sponsor's memo
BILL NUMBER:S5390
Title of bill
An act to amend the navigation law, in relation to notification of petroleum discharge
Purpose or general idea of the bill
This bill would require the p4Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC), upon notification of a petroleum discharge, to immediately notify all potentially impacted tenants and neighbors.
Summary of provisions
Adds a new subdivision 2 to section 175 of the navigation law to require DEC to immediately notify all landowners or tenants adjacent to the site of a petroleum discharge and/or any nearby landowners or tenants whose property or drinking water supply may be potentially impacted by such discharge.
Justification
Current law requires any person responsible for a petroleum discharge to notify DEC within two hours. This requirement is inadequate in that neighbors are not notified of the release. This bill, by requiring DEC to notify neighboring property owners and tenants of a petroleum discharge, will help protect nearby property owners and their drinking water supply. A discharge from an underground gasoline storage tank in New Windsor, New York contaminated the drinking water of nearby residents. DEC knew for over a year that the release had contaminated the groundwater but failed to notify the surrounding neighbors. Many of the affected residents complained of headaches, nausea, dizziness, skin rashes and sore throats. The gasoline contained MTBE (methyl tertiary butyl ether) the additive blended with gasoline to produce oxygenated fuel. These people were drinking contaminated water for close to a year without any official notification from state and county officials.
Legislative history
06/25/01 passed assembly (A.5200) 03/13/02 passed assembly 03/03/03 passed assembly (A3647) 02/02/04 passed assembly 2005-06 A.5387 passed assembly 2007-08 A843 passed assembly 2009-10 A1588 referred to environmental conservation 2011-12 A.3885 environmental conservation
Fiscal implications
DEC will incur some minor additional administrative costs in carrying out the provisions of this bill.
Effective date
This act shall take effect immediately.
Summaries, headlines and scores are AI-generated from the official bill text. How we score bills. Source: NYS Open Legislation.