Bill Text: NY S06268 | 2011-2012 | General Assembly | Amended

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Bill Title: Enacts the "sewage pollution right to know act"; requires publicly owned treatment works to report discharges of untreated or partially treated sewage.

Spectrum: Slight Partisan Bill (Democrat 14-7)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2012-06-21 - SUBSTITUTED BY A10585A [S06268 Detail]

Download: New_York-2011-S06268-Amended.html

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                           S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
       ________________________________________________________________________
                                        6268--A
                                   I N  S E N A T E
                                   January 18, 2012
                                      ___________
       Introduced by Sens. GRISANTI, HASSELL-THOMPSON, KRUEGER, MARTINS, OPPEN-
         HEIMER  --  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
       AN  ACT  to  amend  the  environmental  conservation law, in relation to
         creating the sewage pollution right to know act
         THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND  ASSEM-
       BLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
    1    Section  1.  This  act  shall be known and may be cited as the "sewage
    2  pollution right to know act".
    3    S 2. The environmental conservation law is amended  by  adding  a  new
    4  section 17-0826-a to read as follows:
    5  S 17-0826-A. MANDATORY  SEWAGE  RELEASE  REPORTING  AND  NOTIFICATION BY
    6                 PUBLICLY OWNED TREATMENT WORKS.
    7    1. PUBLICLY OWNED TREATMENT WORKS SHALL IMMEDIATELY, BUT  IN  NO  CASE
    8  LATER THAN TWO HOURS, REPORT DISCHARGES OF UNTREATED OR PARTIALLY TREAT-
    9  ED SEWAGE, INCLUDING COMBINED SEWER OVERFLOWS, TO THE DEPARTMENT AND THE
   10  LOCAL HEALTH DEPARTMENT. SUCH REPORT SHALL, AT A MINIMUM, INCLUDE:
   11    (A) THE VOLUME AND TREATED STATE OF THE DISCHARGE;
   12    (B) THE DATE AND TIME OF THE DISCHARGE;
   13    (C)  THE EXPECTED DURATION OF THE DISCHARGE TO THE EXTENT IT IS KNOWA-
   14  BLE;
   15    (D) A BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF  THE  STEPS  BEING  TAKEN  TO  CONTAIN  THE
   16  DISCHARGE; AND
   17    (E) THE LOCATION OF THE DISCHARGE, WITH THE MAXIMUM LEVEL OF SPECIFIC-
   18  ITY POSSIBLE.
   19    2.  IN  ADDITION TO SUBDIVISION ONE OF THIS SECTION, AS SOON AS POSSI-
   20  BLE, BUT NO LATER THAN FOUR HOURS  AFTER  THE  DISCHARGE,  THE  PUBLICLY
   21  OWNED TREATMENT WORKS SHALL NOTIFY THE NEW YORK STATE HEALTH DEPARTMENT,
   22  THE  CHIEF  EXECUTIVE OFFICER OF THE MUNICIPALITY IN WHICH THE DISCHARGE
   23  OCCURRED AND THE CHIEF EXECUTIVE OF ANY ADJOINING MUNICIPALITY THAT  MAY
   24  BE  AFFECTED.  NOTIFICATION SHALL ALSO BE PROVIDED WITHIN THE SAME TIME-
        EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                             [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                                  LBD13941-02-2
       S. 6268--A                          2
    1  FRAME TO THE GENERAL PUBLIC THROUGH LOCAL NEWS OUTLETS,  NEWSPAPERS  AND
    2  ANY OTHER MEDIA AVAILABLE.
    3    3. THE DEPARTMENT SHALL POST REPORTED INFORMATION ON ITS WEBSITE EXPE-
    4  DITIOUSLY  AND  SHALL  PREPARE  AN ANNUAL PUBLICLY OWNED TREATMENT WORKS
    5  DISCHARGE REPORT EACH YEAR. THE REPORT SHALL, AT A MINIMUM, INCLUDE: THE
    6  TOTAL NUMBER OF DISCHARGES, DETAILS OF  SUCH  DISCHARGES  INCLUDING  THE
    7  VOLUME AND TREATED STATE OF THE DISCHARGE, AND THE DURATION AND LOCATION
    8  OF  EACH  DISCHARGE; AS WELL AS ANY REMEDIAL RESPONSES TAKEN TO MITIGATE
    9  IMPACTS AND AVOID FURTHER DISCHARGES.
   10    S 3. This act shall take effect on January 1, 2013.   Effective  imme-
   11  diately,  the  department of environmental conservation is authorized to
   12  promulgate rules and regulations necessary for the timely implementation
   13  of this act on its effective date.