New NYS Environmental Conservation Law Amendment
The New York State Environmental Conservation Law (ECL) has been amended to be consistent with federal regulations governing underground storage tanks (USTs), and to comply with the federal Energy Policy Act of 2005 with respect to petroleum bulk storage (PBS) and/or chemical bulk storage (CBS) facilities. In short, the law:
- Modified the definition of “facility” to now include USTs greater than 110 gallons used to store petroleum.
- Modified the definition of “petroleum” to now include crude oil and any fraction thereof (e.g., LPG, gasoline, diesel, lube oil, asphaltic emulsions) regardless of purpose, synthetic oils, dielectric oils, hydraulic oils, and cutting oils.
- Authorizes the Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) to prohibit deliveries of petroleum to any tank that is leaking, where a leak appears probable, or to a tank in violation of certain PBS regulations.
- Authorizes the DEC to set standards for new and existing PBS facilities.
- Authorizes the DEC to establish training requirements for operators of PBS and CBS facilities.
- Updated the lists of hazardous substances regulated by CBS facilities.
This amendment will likely affect many existing PBS and CBS facilities and bring more facilities previously unregulated into these programs. Owners that become newly subject to registration requirements of this amendment will have one year to be in compliance.
Contact C&S to see if this law affects your facility.