Bill Text: NY S07985 | 2023-2024 | General Assembly | Amended


Bill Title: Establishes air quality standards for lead in ambient air, soil-lead hazard standards for lead-contaminated soil, and dust-lead hazard standards and dust-lead clearance levels for floors and windows and window troughs.

Spectrum: Slight Partisan Bill (Democrat 2-1)

Status: (Engrossed) 2024-06-03 - referred to environmental conservation [S07985 Detail]

Download: New_York-2023-S07985-Amended.html



                STATE OF NEW YORK
        ________________________________________________________________________

                                         7985--C
            Cal. No. 1312

                    IN SENATE

                                     January 4, 2024
                                       ___________

        Introduced  by  Sens. CLEARE, MANNION -- 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  --  reported  favorably
          from  said  committee,  ordered to first and second report, amended on
          second report, ordered to a third reading,  and  to  be  reprinted  as
          amended, retaining its place in the order of third reading -- reported
          favorably  from  said  committee to third reading, amended and ordered
          reprinted, retaining its place in the order of third reading

        AN ACT to amend the environmental conservation law and the public health
          law, in relation to establishing air quality  standards  for  lead  in
          ambient  air,  soil-lead  hazard standards for lead-contaminated soil,
          and dust-lead hazard standards  and  dust-lead  clearance  levels  for
          floors and windows and window troughs

          The  People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-
        bly, do enact as follows:

     1    Section 1. Legislative findings. The legislature  finds  and  declares
     2  that  there  is  a  present  need  to establish New York standards, in a
     3  manner that would be fully protective of human health, with  respect  to
     4  levels  of  lead  in ambient air, levels of lead contamination in soils,
     5  dust-lead hazard levels  and  dust-lead  clearance  levels  for  floors,
     6  window  sills and window troughs. The legislature finds that the current
     7  regulatory standards are inadequate to protect the  general  public  and
     8  particularly  children from the harmful effects of ingesting or inhaling
     9  lead dust and coming into contact with lead on exposed  surfaces.    Low
    10  levels of lead in children's blood can have an adverse effect on concen-
    11  tration  and intellectual achievement and can have a long-term impact on
    12  health and quality of life.   Lead from ambient air  can  contribute  to
    13  lead  in  soil as well as contribute to other pathways that are a danger
    14  to public health and the environment. Hazardous levels of lead dust  can
    15  be  released  from  the  peeling  or  chipping of lead-based paint, from
    16  plumbing fixtures, from the demolition of buildings and from  the  exca-
    17  vation  of  and  construction of buildings on sites that contained lead-
    18  contaminated soil or factories that used  lead  in  manufacturing  proc-

         EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                              [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                                   LBD13906-08-4

        S. 7985--C                          2

     1  esses.   The legislature declares that it shall be the responsibility of
     2  the commissioner of environmental conservation, in consultation with the
     3  commissioner of health, to adopt emission standards for lead in  ambient
     4  air,  soil-lead  hazard  standards for lead-contaminated soil, and dust-
     5  lead hazard standards and dust-lead  clearance  levels  for  floors  and
     6  windows  and  window  troughs, and in accordance with the procedures set
     7  forth in the environmental conservation law.
     8    § 2.  Subdivision 1 of section 3-0301 of the  environmental  conserva-
     9  tion law is amended by adding a new paragraph ii to read as follows:
    10    ii. In consultation with the commissioner of health pursuant to subdi-
    11  vision  thirty-two  of section two hundred six of the public health law,
    12  and in accordance with paragraph a of subdivision two of  this  section,
    13  the  commissioner  shall  adopt  environmental standards and those rules
    14  having the force and effect of standards and criteria to carry  out  the
    15  purposes of such standards, which shall require:
    16    (1)  that a soil-lead hazard within the meaning of part 40 of the code
    17  of federal regulations section 745.65(c) for an  area  containing  lead-
    18  contaminated  soil  shall  be  a level of lead contamination not greater
    19  than what is necessary to be fully protective of human health,  provided
    20  that  in  no event shall such level for such purpose be greater than one
    21  hundred parts per million for bare soil  on  (i)  residential  property,
    22  (ii)  the  property  of a child occupied facility and (iii) a children's
    23  play area as defined in part 40  of  the  code  of  federal  regulations
    24  section  745.63;  and in no event a level greater than two hundred parts
    25  per million for bare soil in the rest of the yard based on soil samples,
    26  and in no event a level greater than one thousand parts per million  for
    27  areas zoned for commercial and/or industrial development.
    28    (2)  that a dust-lead hazard within the meaning of part 40 of the code
    29  of federal regulations section 745.65(b) shall be a  level  not  greater
    30  than  what  is  necessary  to be fully protective of human health, and a
    31  level not greater than zero as analyzed by any laboratory recognized  by
    32  the  federal  environmental protection agency's national lead laboratory
    33  accreditation program.
    34    (3) that dust-lead clearance levels  for  these  hazards,  within  the
    35  meaning  of  part 40 of the code of federal regulations section 745.223,
    36  shall be at a level not greater than  what  is  necessary  to  be  fully
    37  protective of human health and in no event at a level greater than three
    38  micrograms  per  square  foot  for  floors,  a level greater than twenty
    39  micrograms per square foot for window sills and  a  level  greater  than
    40  twenty-five micrograms per square foot for window troughs;
    41    (4) that the average ambient air quality standard for lead, calculated
    42  as  a rolling three-month average, shall not be greater than .075 micro-
    43  grams per cubic meter.
    44    § 3. Section 206 of the public health law is amended by adding  a  new
    45  subdivision 32 to read as follows:
    46    32.  The  commissioner,  upon  request of the commissioner of environ-
    47  mental  conservation,  shall  consult  with  such  commissioner  on  the
    48  creation  and  adoption  of  dust-lead hazard standards for lead concen-
    49  trations in lead-contaminated soil, lead dust concentrations  on  floors
    50  and  window sills and window troughs, dust-lead clearance levels and air
    51  quality standards for lead emissions in ambient air  in  a  manner  that
    52  would be fully protective of human health.
    53    § 4. Severability clause. If any clause, sentence, paragraph, subdivi-
    54  sion,  section  or  part  of  this act shall be adjudged by any court of
    55  competent jurisdiction to be invalid, such judgment  shall  not  affect,
    56  impair,  or  invalidate  the remainder thereof, but shall be confined in

        S. 7985--C                          3

     1  its operation to the clause, sentence, paragraph,  subdivision,  section
     2  or part thereof directly involved in the controversy in which such judg-
     3  ment shall have been rendered. It is hereby declared to be the intent of
     4  the  legislature  that  this  act  would  have been enacted even if such
     5  invalid provisions had not been included herein.
     6    § 5. This act shall take effect on the ninetieth day  after  it  shall
     7  have  become  a  law.    Effective  immediately, the addition, amendment
     8  and/or repeal of any rule or regulation necessary for the implementation
     9  of this act on  its  effective  date  are  authorized  to  be  made  and
    10  completed on or before such date.
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