BILL NUMBER: S10003
SPONSOR: WEBB
 
TITLE OF BILL:
An act to amend the environmental conservation law and the public lands
law, in relation to permits and financial security for reclamation for
mining on state-owned lands occurring below or beneath navigable water-
ways; and to repeal certain provisions of the environmental conservation
law relating thereto
 
PURPOSE:
To increase environmental and economic protections for projects involv-
ing mining in state-owned lands under navigable waterways
 
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:
Section 1 of the bill amends 23-2711 of the Environmental Conservation
Law (ECL) as follows:
- Amends Subdivision 1 to extend permit requirements to apply to mining
under a body of water.
- Amends Subdivision 2 to require that both applications for new permits
and permit renewals must contain certain required elements, including a
statement by both the applicant and the local political subdivision in
which the proposed mine is to be located that mining is not prohibited
and, for mines located on or beneath navigable waterways, a 30-year plan
for monitoring the effects of the mine on navigable waterways.
- Amends Subdivision 3 to require the Department of Environmental
Conservation (DEC) to provide local governments where the proposed mine
is located notice of the public comment period for all new and renewal
permits when the project involves mining on state-below or beneath
navigable waterways.
-Amends Subdivision 4 to make technical changes, substituting "local
political subdivision" for the phrase "county, town, village or city".
-Amends Subdivision 8 to make technical changes, substituting "local
political subdivision" for the phrase "county, town, village or city".
- Amends Subdivision 11 to require perrrit renewals for mining in state-
owned lands under navigable waterways to contain an updated reclamation
plan and a 30-year monitoring plan.
-Adds a new Subdivision 11-a to create a permit renewal for mining in
state-owned lands under navigable waterways where the initial permit
process did not require an environmental impact statement (EIS) within
the preceding 20 years or a completed environmental study pursuant to §
23-2711 (14). This renewal process would prohibit projects meeting this
standard from being treated as a minor project, requiring them instead
to be considered as a new project, subject to an Environmental Quality
Review under § 8-0113 ECL and deemed likely to need an EIS.
- Amends Subdivision 12 to require that permit transfers involving
mining in state-owned lands under navigable waterways be considered a
material modification of the project and require, where there has been
no EIS within the preceding 20 years, the permit be treated as a new
project, subject to an Environmental Quality Review under §8-0113 ECL
and deemed likely to need an EIS.
- Adds a new Subdivision 14 directing the DEC to prepare an environ-
mental study on mining in state-owned lands under navigable waterways
where the initial permit approval process did not require an environ-
mental impact statement (EIS) within the preceding 20 years. This subdi-
vision also requires peimitholders to comply with all reasonable
requests made by the agency in connection with the study. This study
must include, but is not limited to, a review of the cumulative effects
of mining and potential future environmental impacts, adverse environ-
mental effects that cannot be avoided should mining continue, alterna-
tives to continued mining operations, possible mitigation measures to
lessen environmental impact, effects on the drinking water supply,
economic activity and recreational activities. In conducting the study,
DEC must ensure public participation and make the study results public.
If the study demonstrates significant risks to navigable waterways as a
result of the mining, DEC may terminate authorization to mine.
Section 2 of the bill makes conforming changes to subdivision 9 of
§23-2711 of the ECL, repealing language that is redundant to ECL
§23-2711 (1);
Section 3 of the bill amends subdivision 6 of §23-2715 of the ECL to
require financial security for reclamation for projects involving mining
in state owned lands under navigable waterways and establishes the
formula by which DEC must base the amount. DEC will be required to
engage an independent third party with the necessary expertise to help
in determining this amount. The security must remain in effect until DEC
has approved the reclamation and determined there is no continuing risk
from the mining. If the permitholder fails to initiate or complete
reclamation as required by law, DEC may add to the full cost of the
reclamation any damage resulting from mining activities as the liability
of the permitholder. Any current permitholder who has not provided this
type of financial security prior to the enactment of this bill is
provided a six-month period after the effective date of this act for
permittees to furnish the financial security.
Section 4 of the bill adds a new subdivision 3 to §81 of the Public
Lands Law that requires the duration of such permit, consent or lease
from New York State with respect to mining in state-owned lands under
navigable waterways be tied to the duration of the permit issued DEC
pursuant to title 27 of article 23 of the ECL.
Section 5 of the bill sets forth a severability clause.
Section 6 of the bill sets forth the effective date.
 
JUSTIFICATION:
The Cayuga Salt Mine (CSM) has operated for more than five decades
beneath Cayuga Lake in Lansing, NY in Tompkins County, where it operates
on several thousand acres of land it leases from New York State. While
the Mine Safety and Health Administration has been able to inspect the
CSM operation for worker safety, the state Department of Environmental
Conservation (DEC) has not regularly inspected the mine for issues
related to protecting the Cayuga Lake ecosystem. Now, after decades of
mining by Cargill, Cayuga Lake is saltier than nearly all the other
Finger Lakes. Further, due to continued mining and geological condi-
tions, without intervention from the DEC to require an environmental
review, the lake is at risk of becoming permanently more saline, with
potential catastrophic effects on drinking water, the local economy and
the ecosystem of the lake.
NYS Public Lands Law authorizes the state Office of General Services
(OGS) to grant the use of state-owned lands for mining purposes, includ-
ing those lands found beneath lakes. Since the mid-1970s, OGS has
provided consent orders to the CSM owner, Cargill, to allow for salt
mining under Cayuga Lake. The most recent consent order in 2019 provided
that Cargill would be able to provide notice to OGS and then extend the
consent order for ten years. This was done without the performance of an
environmental impact statement (EIS) or environmental quality review
(SEQR) under the New York State Department of Environmental Conserva-
tion.
DEC is also responsible for providing additional permitting through the
Mined Land Reclamation Law, that includes reclamation and closure
requirements of mined lands. Past civil lawsuits challenging the contin-
uance of mining permits by the DEC have been dismissed. The assertions
made in these lawsuits centered on the lack of DEC oversight or the
requirement of an EIS on the mine considering significant environmental
issues with the Retsof Salt Mine in Livingston County, which, in 1994,
collapsed and flooded, causing two sinkholes, significant subsidence
damage, wells going dry, and the salinization of a freshwater aquifer.
The geological similarities of these two mines have the communities
surrounding Cayuga Lake and its watershed justifiably concerned about
the significant environmental and ecological risks of mine collapse.
Cayuga Lake and its watershed are the largest in the region spanning
seven (7) counties, covering 860 square miles with more than 140 streams
that flow into the lake. Cayuga Lake itself is surrounded by a multitude
of communities and supports a tourist economy seeking the natural beauty
of the lake and the opportunity to visit the many vineyards found along
the Cayuga Lake Wine Trail. An accident within the salt mine below Cayu-
ga Lake could have an immediate and severe impact, reducing the quality
of the drinking water of about 100,000 residents and endangering the
region's $3 billion, 60,000-employee food, wine and recreational tourism
economy.
Despite an EIS being fully warranted by the scope of the environmental
risk posed by salt mining under a lake, the DEC has, for decades, not
required the owners of Cayuga Salt Mine to cooperate with an EIS proc-
ess, despite repeated requests to do so.
This legislation would explicitly require an EIS for mining in state-
owned land under navigable waterways where there has not been an EIS
done in the preceding 20 years, as well as an updated reclamation plan
along with appropriate financial security to ensure the communities
relying on Cayuga Lake and its watershed are protected from potential
halm.
 
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
New bill
 
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:
To be determined
 
LOCAL FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:
To be deteimined
 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect on the 30th day after it shall have become
law; provide, however, that section three of this act shall take effect
on the 90th day after it shall have become law. Effective immediately,
the addition, amendment and/or repeal of any rule or regulation neces-
sary for the implementation of this act on its effective date are
authorized to be made and completed on or before such effective date.

Statutes affected:
S10003: 81 public lands law