Bill Text: NY S01031 | 2021-2022 | General Assembly | Amended
NOTE: There are more recent revisions of this legislation. Read Latest Draft
Bill Title: Makes various provisions regulating the location of environmental facilities to insure equity of treatment for minority communities or economically distressed areas or disadvantaged communities; requires environmental impact statements to state whether the siting of a facility will cause or increase a disproportionate burden on such areas.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 20-1)
Status: (Engrossed - Dead) 2022-06-03 - COMMITTED TO RULES [S01031 Detail]
Download: New_York-2021-S01031-Amended.html
Bill Title: Makes various provisions regulating the location of environmental facilities to insure equity of treatment for minority communities or economically distressed areas or disadvantaged communities; requires environmental impact statements to state whether the siting of a facility will cause or increase a disproportionate burden on such areas.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 20-1)
Status: (Engrossed - Dead) 2022-06-03 - COMMITTED TO RULES [S01031 Detail]
Download: New_York-2021-S01031-Amended.html
STATE OF NEW YORK ________________________________________________________________________ 1031--B 2021-2022 Regular Sessions IN SENATE January 6, 2021 ___________ Introduced by Sen. STEWART-COUSINS -- read twice and ordered printed, and when printed to be committed to the Committee on Environmental Conservation -- committee discharged, bill amended, ordered reprinted as amended and recommitted to said committee -- committee discharged, bill amended, ordered reprinted as amended and recommitted to said committee AN ACT to amend the environmental conservation law, in relation to the location of environmental facilities The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem- bly, do enact as follows: 1 Section 1. Legislative intent. The legislature finds and declares that 2 each community in the state should equitably share the responsibilities, 3 burdens, and benefits of managing and solving the state's environmental 4 problems and the facilities necessary to accomplish such ends. The 5 legislature further declares that there has been an inequitable pattern 6 in the siting of environmental facilities in minority and economically 7 distressed communities, which have borne a disproportionate and inequi- 8 table share of such facilities. Consistent with its commitment to 9 providing equal justice for its citizens, the state has a responsibility 10 to establish requirements for the consideration of such decisions by 11 state and local governments in order to insure equality of treatment for 12 all communities. 13 § 2. Section 8-0105 of the environmental conservation law is amended 14 by adding five new subdivisions 9, 10, 11, 12, and 13 to read as 15 follows: 16 9. "Environmental justice community" shall mean an economically 17 distressed or minority community bearing a disproportionate or inequita- 18 ble pollution burden and includes, but is not limited to, environmental 19 justice areas identified by the department. 20 10. "Economically distressed area" shall mean an area characterized by 21 a poverty rate of at least twenty percent; or an unemployment rate of at EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets [] is old law to be omitted. LBD00519-04-1S. 1031--B 2 1 least one hundred twenty-five percent of the statewide unemployment 2 rate. 3 11. "Minority community" shall mean any census tract, census block, or 4 census block group that includes twenty-five percent or more of any 5 ethnic group. 6 12. "Ethnic group" shall mean those groups identified in the defi- 7 nition of minority group member in subdivision eight of section three 8 hundred ten of the executive law. 9 13. "Existing burden report" shall mean the report required by subdi- 10 vision four of section 8-0109 of this article describing the existing 11 pollution burden in an environmental justice community. 12 § 3. Subdivision 2 of section 8-0109 of the environmental conservation 13 law, as amended by chapter 219 of the laws of 1990, paragraph (h) as 14 amended by chapter 519 of the laws of 1992, paragraph (i) as added by 15 chapter 182 of the laws of 1990, and paragraph (i) as amended by chapter 16 238 of the laws of 1991, is amended to read as follows: 17 2. All agencies (or applicant as hereinafter provided) shall prepare, 18 or cause to be prepared by contract or otherwise an environmental impact 19 statement on any action they propose or approve which may have a signif- 20 icant effect on the environment. Such a statement shall include a 21 detailed statement setting forth the following: 22 (a) a description of the proposed action and its environmental 23 setting; 24 (b) the environmental impact of the proposed action including short- 25 term and long-term effects; 26 (c) any adverse environmental effects which cannot be avoided should 27 the proposal be implemented; 28 (d) alternatives to the proposed action; 29 (e) any irreversible and irretrievable commitments of resources which 30 would be involved in the proposed action should it be implemented; 31 (f) mitigation measures proposed to minimize the environmental impact; 32 (g) the growth-inducing aspects of the proposed action, where applica- 33 ble and significant; 34 (h) effects of the proposed action on the use and conservation of 35 energy resources, where applicable and significant, provided that in the 36 case of an electric generating facility, the statement shall include a 37 demonstration that the facility will satisfy electric generating capaci- 38 ty needs or other electric systems needs in a manner reasonably consist- 39 ent with the most recent state energy plan and the climate leadership 40 and community protection act; 41 (i) effects of proposed action on solid waste management where appli- 42 cable and significant; [and43(i)] (j) effects of any proposed action on, and its consistency with, 44 the comprehensive management plan of the special groundwater protection 45 area program, as implemented by the commissioner pursuant to article 46 fifty-five of this chapter; [and47(j)] (k) effects of any proposed action on environmental justice 48 communities, including whether the action may cause or contribute to, 49 either directly or indirectly, a disproportionate or inequitable or both 50 disproportionate and inequitable pollution burden on an environmental 51 justice community; and 52 (l) such other information consistent with the purposes of this arti- 53 cle as may be prescribed in guidelines issued by the commissioner pursu- 54 ant to section 8-0113 of this chapter. 55 Such a statement shall also include copies or a summary of the 56 substantive comments received by the agency pursuant to subdivision fourS. 1031--B 3 1 of this section, and the agency response to such comments. The purpose 2 of an environmental impact statement is to provide detailed information 3 about the effect which a proposed action is likely to have on the envi- 4 ronment, to list ways in which any adverse effects of such an action 5 might be minimized, and to suggest alternatives to such an action so as 6 to form the basis for a decision whether or not to undertake or approve 7 such action. Such statement should be clearly written in a concise 8 manner capable of being read and understood by the public, should deal 9 with the specific significant environmental impacts which can be reason- 10 ably anticipated and should not contain more detail than is appropriate 11 considering the nature and magnitude of the proposed action and the 12 significance of its potential impacts. 13 § 4. The opening paragraph of subdivision 4 of section 8-0109 of the 14 environmental conservation law, as amended by chapter 219 of the laws of 15 1990, is amended to read as follows: 16 As early as possible in the formulation of a proposal for an action, 17 the responsible agency shall make an initial determination as to whether 18 or not an environmental impact statement need be prepared for the 19 action. In making such determination for any proposed action that is 20 not a minor project as defined in subdivision three of section 70-0105 21 of this chapter and that may directly or indirectly affect an environ- 22 mental justice community, the responsible agency shall prepare or cause 23 to be prepared an existing burden report and shall consider such report 24 in determining whether such action may cause or contribute to, either 25 directly or indirectly, a disproportionate or inequitable or both 26 disproportionate and inequitable pollution burden on an environmental 27 justice community. The existing burden report shall include baseline 28 monitoring data collected in the affected environmental justice communi- 29 ty within two years of the application for a permit or approval; shall 30 identify each existing pollution source or categories of sources affect- 31 ing the community and the potential routes of human exposure to 32 pollution from that source or categories of sources; the potential or 33 documented cumulative human health effects of such pollution; and the 34 potential or projected contribution of the proposed action to existing 35 pollution burdens in the community and potential health effects of such 36 contribution, taking into account existing pollution burdens. When an 37 action is to be carried out or approved by two or more agencies, such 38 determination shall be made as early as possible after the designation 39 of the lead agency. 40 § 5. Subdivision 8 of section 8-0109 of the environmental conservation 41 law, as amended by chapter 252 of the laws of 1977, is amended to read 42 as follows: 43 8. When an agency decides to carry out or approve an action which has 44 been the subject of an environmental impact statement, it shall make an 45 explicit finding that the requirements of this section have been met and 46 that consistent with social, economic and other essential consider- 47 ations, to the maximum extent practicable, adverse environmental effects 48 revealed in the environmental impact statement process will be minimized 49 or avoided. No action shall be carried out or approved if it may cause 50 or contribute to, either directly or indirectly, a disproportionate or 51 inequitable or both disproportionate and inequitable pollution burden on 52 an environmental justice community. 53 § 6. Subparagraph (i) of paragraph (c) of subdivision 2 of section 54 8-0113 of the environmental conservation law, as added by chapter 612 of 55 the laws of 1975, is amended to read as follows:S. 1031--B 4 1 (i) Actions or classes of actions that are likely to require prepara- 2 tion of environmental impact statements, including actions which may 3 cause or contribute to, either directly or indirectly, a dispropor- 4 tionate or inequitable or both disproportionate and inequitable 5 pollution burden on an environmental justice community; 6 § 7. Subdivision 2 of section 8-0113 of the environmental conservation 7 law is amended by adding a new paragraph (m) to read as follows: 8 (m) The form and content of an existing burden report which shall, at 9 the minimum, include baseline monitoring data collected in the affected 10 environmental justice community within two years of the application for 11 a permit or approval and shall identify: (i) each existing pollution 12 source or categories of sources affecting an environmental justice 13 community and the potential routes of human exposure to pollution from 14 that source or categories of sources; (ii) ambient concentration of 15 regulated air pollutants and regulated or unregulated toxic air pollu- 16 tants; (iii) traffic volume; (iv) noise and odor levels; (v) exposure or 17 potential exposure to lead paint; (vi) exposure or potential exposure to 18 contaminated drinking water supplies; (vii) proximity to solid or 19 hazardous waste management facilities, wastewater treatment plants, 20 hazardous waste sites, and petroleum or chemical manufacturing, storage, 21 treatment or disposal facilities; (viii) the potential or documented 22 cumulative human health effects of the foregoing pollution sources; (ix) 23 the potential or projected contribution of the proposed action to exist- 24 ing pollution burdens in the community and potential health effects of 25 such contribution, taking into account existing pollution burdens. 26 § 8. This act shall take effect on the thirtieth day after it shall 27 have become a law; provided that section three of this act shall not 28 apply to any person who has received an initial determination pursuant 29 to subdivision 4 of section 8-0109 of the environmental conservation law 30 prior to such date and provided further that section six of this act 31 shall not apply to any determination of significance made prior to such 32 date.
