BILL NUMBER:S4678

TITLE OF BILL:
An act
to amend the navigation law, in relation to notification of discharge by
the department of environmental conservation

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 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, overfilling of tanks,
loading and unloading mistakes, and poor maintenance and inspection.
In 2004, there were 15,694 spills reported to the Department of
Environmental Conservation. In 2001, for example, the U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency inspected 33 mid-Hudson Valley
gasoline service stations. With additional information provided by
the owner of the stations, the EPA determined 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 412,000 confirmed releases and spills
reported nationwide as of 2001. 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

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.