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Other Legislation:
Pollution Prevention

Our Position: support
Bill Number: a6852
Sponsor: DiNapoli (MS)
Legislative Session: 2005

Status

Action Needed

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Background

Title: An Act to amend the environmental conservation law and the economic development law, in relation to establishing a small business pollution prevention and environmental compliance assistance program

Provisions:

A.6852 proposes a new small business pollution prevention and environmental compliance assistance program in the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC).

The bill defines pollution prevention in terms of reductions in contaminants produced, or energy used per unit of product or service provided. According to the terms of the bill, this must be accomplished through means that reduce risks to workers, public health and/or the environment. These means cannot include management of wastes outside of the production process, or incineration. To promote pollution prevention the agency is directed to take a variety of steps necessary to integrate pollution prevention into all of the department’s regulatory programs and activities. The DEC is also directed to integrate pollution prevention into all state financial assistance programs that are designed to improve or promote public health or the environment. Through the new pollution prevention program the agency is directed to assist eligible businesses, defined as businesses with fewer than 500 full-time employees, to achieve pollution prevention and improve environmental performance. The bill proposes the creation of a Pollution Prevention and Environmental Compliance Coordinating Council to provide guidance to the DEC and to assist in coordination with other state agencies. The bill also calls for the creation of a small business pollution prevention and environmental compliance ombudsman program in the Department of Economic Development.

Statement of Support:

Pollution prevention holds great promise to eliminate the threats that industrial and commercial practices pose to public health and the environment, by reducing the generation of wastes and hazardous emissions. This promise can only be realized when pollution prevention is fully integrated into the regulatory practices of agencies charged with protecting the environment. A.6852 directs the DEC to do just that. The resulting program will marshal the current technical expertise of the agency and the various state programs that provide financial assistance to design and implement pollution prevention programs that achieve the regulatory requirements of eligible businesses. In doing so, the program will assist businesses in reducing their energy and waste management costs at the same time it reduces their pollution in amounts greater than would have been accomplished by a regulatory program that does not include pollution prevention.