BILL NUMBER: S2130

SPONSOR: KAMINSKY
 
TITLE OF BILL:  An act to amend the environmental conservation law, in
relation to the sale or use of nitrogen fertilizer

 
PURPOSE OR GENERAL IDEA OF BILL:

The purpose of this bill is to help reduce nitrogen contamination of
water bodies.

 
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:

This bill would add anew § 17-2104 to the Environmental Conservation Law
to require, in Nassau and Suffolk counties, the sale and use of non-a-
gricultural fertilizer containing not more than 12% nitrogen by weight.

 
DIFFERENCE BETWEEN ORIGINAL AND AMENDED VERSION (IF APPLICABLE):

 
              

JUSTIFICATION:

Excess nitrogen has been proven to contribute to Harmful Algal Blooms
(HABs) in marine and freshwater environments.  Several scientific
studies have identified lawn fertilizer as a significant contributor to
excess nitrogen. A 2009 study in the Journal of Coastal Research esti-
mated that fertilizer use contributed 15% of the total land-based nitro-
gen in the Great South Bay. In addition to nitrogen contributing, to
HABs, high nitrogen levels threaten Long-Island's aquifers, the area's
sole source of drinking water. Since nitrogen is a soluble substance, it
deeply immerses into the soil after a rainstorm or after irrigation;
when this happens, the nitrogen is able to reach ground water and wells
in the surrounding area. Nearly 3 million people live on Long Island and
depend on the aquifer for their drinking water. Recognizing the threat
that high levels of nitrogen presents to ground and surface water, the
2015-16 state budget included $5 million dollars, for the local and
state authorities to create a Long Island Nitrogen Action Plan. The
2017-18 state budget included $75 million included $75 million of the
$2.5 billion Clean Water Infrastructure Act of 2017, for a new state
rebate program to incentivize the replacemen t of failing septic systems
and cesspools. This legislation builds upon those recent efforts to
address high nitrogen levels on Long Island by ensuring that fertilizer,
one of the main sources of high nitrogen, sold and applied on Long
Island are low nitrogen and less water soluble than many fertilizers
currently are. Based on a phosphorus fertilizer restriction enacted in
2010, would not apply to farms and would limit the amount of nitrogen
that could be contained in fertilizer sold and used on Long Island.
Eliminating excessive nitrogen, which serves primarily to make grass
look greener, represents a common sense approach to limiting HABs.

 
PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:

2018: A.10276 passed assembly

 
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS FOR STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENTS:

None.

 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect December 31, 2021.