BILL NUMBER: S7478
SPONSOR: HOYLMAN-SIGAL
 
TITLE OF BILL:
An act to amend the navigation law, in relation to the regulation of
exhaust gas cleaning systems on vessels; and to amend the environmental
conservation law, in relation to the powers of the department of envi-
ronmental conservation
 
PURPOSE:
To prohibit the sale of and discharge by exhaust gas cleaning systems in
the state of New York; establish civil and criminal liability for
violations of these provisions; and empower the department of environ-
mental conservation to enforce and promulgate rules to effectuate these
provisions
 
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:
Section one adds to the navigation law section 33-f to prohibit the use
or sale of exhaust gas cleaning systems, empower the department of envi-
ronmental conservation to promulgate rules and conduct inspections to
effectuate and enforce the provisions of this section, and to establish
civil and criminal liability for violations of this section.
Section two adds to subdivision 1 of section 3-0301 of the environmental
conservation law a new paragraph ii establishing the department's
authority to monitor and establish rules and standards relating to moni-
tor vessel exhaust gas cleaning systems.
Section three is the effective date. This act shall take effect ninety
days after enactment
 
JUSTIFICATION:
In 2020, the International Maritime Organization (IMO) instituted a
global ban on the use of high-sulfur fuel oil (HSFO) by cargo ships in
an effort to curb air pollution near ports and in coastal communities.
While this effort was laudable, the rule included a loophole, allowing
ships to continue burning cheaper HSFO instead of more expensive, clean-
er fuels if they installed "scrubbers," exhaust gas cleaning systems
that remove sulfur from exhaust by spraying seawater over it and
discharging the resulting washwater overboard. This discharge is more
acidic than surrounding waters and contains copper, polycylic aromatic
hydrocarbons, and other substances toxic or harmful to marine life.
Though only 250 ships had scrubbers in 2015, an analysis by the Interna-
tional Council on Clean Transportation found that by 2019 3,600 ships
had scrubbers installed, emitting an estimated 10 gigatons of toxic
wastewater into the ocean each year --- a number that has surely risen
as an additional at least 700 ships have installed scrubbers since then.
Most of this discharge occurs within 200 miles of land.
The United States ranks first of all countries in absolute volume of
washwater discharges. Sixteen countries and some localities, including
California, Connecticut, and Hawaii, have already banned the use of
scrubbers within their territorial waters, cutting washwater emissions
by 496. This bill would have New York follow suit by banning the sale
and use of scrubbers in state waters and empowering the Department of
Environmental Conservation to enforce that ban.
 
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
S.6730 of 2023-2024 (Hoylman-Sigal): Died in Environmental Conservation
 
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:
None.
 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect on the ninetieth day after it shall have
become law.

Statutes affected:
S7478: 3-0301 environmental conservation law, 3-0301(1) environmental conservation law