§ 71-3601. Declaration of policy and statement of purpose.

The legislature hereby finds and declares that contaminated site
remedial programs are an important and necessary component of the
state's policy of restoring and revitalizing real property located
throughout New York state. The legislature further finds that when an
environmental remediation project leaves residual contamination at
levels that have been determined to be safe for a specific use, but not
all uses, or includes engineered structures that must be maintained or
protected against damage to be effective, it is necessary to provide an
effective and enforceable means of ensuring the performance of
maintenance, monitoring or operation requirements, and of ensuring the
potential restriction of future uses of the land, including restrictions
on drilling for or pumping groundwater for as long as any residual
contamination remains hazardous. The legislature declares, therefore,
that it is in the public interest to create environmental easements
because such easements are necessary for the protection of human health
and the environment and to achieve the requirements for remediation
established at contaminated sites.