BILL NUMBER: S672A
SPONSOR: HINCHEY
 
TITLE OF BILL:
An act to amend the environmental conservation law, in relation to envi-
ronmental restoration projects; and to repeal certain provisions of such
law relating thereto
 
PURPOSE:
To provides direct aid to municipalities to support efforts to clean up
contaminated sites in their communities where there is no private,
responsible party, in order to protect drinking water resources from
"forever" chemicals.
 
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:
Sec. 1 - amends En Con law § 45-0501 to add a new subdivision (3)
providing that funds appropriated to the Clean Water Infrastructure Act
may be used to fund environmental restoration projects;
Sec. 2 - amends § 56-0502 to repeal subdivision (1), thereby removing
the definition of. "community-based organization".
Sec. 3 - amends En Con law § 56-0502 ( 1-a) and (5) and adds a new
subdivision (1) expanding the Environmental Restoration Program (ERP) to
allow funding for municipalities to investigate, design, and remediate
municipally-owned sites contaminated with PFAS and emerging contam-
inants;
Sec. 4 - amends En Con law § 56-0503 (2) to require a municipality to
use any settlement monies received from parties responsible for the
contamination to fund the municipal share for the environmental restora-
tion project;
Sec. 5 - amends En Con law § 56-0505 (1) paragraphs (a), (d), and (e)
pertaining to eligibility criteria by allowing:
a. the DEC to consider the location of the real property in a disadvan-
taged community;
b. municipalities to enter the program even if receiving other grant
funds to complete the project;
c. the DEC to consider requirements made by the commissioner of health
for "drinking water contamination sites" when determining eligibility;
and
d. the DEC to use other criteria it deems appropriate when determining
eligibility; .
Sec. 6 - repeals En Con law § 56-0505 (2) which prohibits real property
that is listed as Class 1 or Class 2 site on the registry of inactive
hazardous waste sites under § 27-1305 from entering the program;
Sec. 7 - amends En Con law § 56-0505 (3), (4) and (5) to limit the
State's indemnification of municipal actions to the remediation activ-
ities.
Sec. 8 - amends En Con law § 56-0509 (3) to provide for indemnification
by the state for an environmental restoration remediation project
contracted under this act;
Sec. 9 - provides for $20,000,000 from the Clean Water/Clean Air Bond
Act of 1996 for state assistance payments to municipalities for environ-
mental remediation;
Sec. 10 - effective date.
 
JUSTIFICATION:
Increasingly, the State's response efforts and investigation of emerging
contaminants has found contamination on land owned or operated by muni-
cipalities or local government organizations, many of which lack the
resources to advance the necessary cleanup actions. For example, a
common ingredient in firefighting foams, PFAS chemicals, are likely to
be found at municipally-owned firefighting training areas and airports.
In 2017, New York State enacted the Clean Water Infrastructure Act to
provide resources to the state and municipalities to address the urgent
threat of emerging contaminants and ensure sources of drinking water are
protected. Experience has shown it is municipalities who often end up
addressing emerging contaminants. This bill allows more flexibility to
use funds allocated under CWIA to assist municipalities in addressing
PFAS chemical contamination, protecting drinking water resources to
reduce these "forever" chemicals in our environment.
 
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
2024: A.9366 (Referred to Environmental Conservation)
New bill in Senate
 
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:
Subject to appropriations
 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
Immediately.

Statutes affected:
S672: 56-0501 environmental conservation law
S672A: 56-0501 environmental conservation law