STATE OF NEW YORK ________________________________________________________________________

3296

2023-2024 Regular Sessions

IN ASSEMBLY

February 2, 2023 ___________

Introduced by M. of A. KELLES -- read once and referred to the Committee on Environmental Conservation

AN ACT to amend the environmental conservation law, in relation to enacting the "PFAS surface water discharge disclosure act"

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

1 Section 1. Short title. This act shall be known and may be cited as 2 the "PFAS surface water discharge disclosure act". 3 § 2. Legislative intent. PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances) 4 are a class of persistent, bioaccumulative, and toxic chemicals. PFAS 5 have contaminated surface waters and groundwater in New York and across 6 the country. New York has led the nation by limiting two PFAS--perfluo- 7 rooctanoic acid (PFOA) and perfluorooctane sulfonic acid (PFOS)--in 8 drinking water by setting a maximum contaminant level for these two 9 chemicals. However, no PFAS--not even PFOA or PFOS--are currently limit- 10 ed in discharges to our surface waters. Further, those proposing to 11 discharge pollutants into New York's waterways are not even required to 12 disclose whether their existing or proposed discharges contain PFAS. 13 Publicly owned treatment works' (POTW) sewage treatment technology, for 14 example, is not designed to remove PFAS from wastewater, meaning any 15 PFAS introduced into a POTW by an industrial user will pass through into 16 the surface water. The lack of information about the suite of PFAS chem- 17 icals currently entering New York's waterways is a barrier to developing 18 regulations to protect people and the environment from the harms of PFAS 19 in our waterways. In December 2022, the US Environmental Protection 20 Agency (EPA) published guidance encouraging states to require facilities 21 discharging into New York's waters, as well as industrial users sending 22 waste to POTWs, to monitor for and disclose the presence of PFAS. This 23 bill is intended to better align New York state law with EPA guidance 24 and will ensure all facilities currently discharging or proposing to

EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets [] is old law to be omitted. LBD07011-01-3

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1 discharge into waters in New York disclose and monitor their discharge 2 for PFAS. 3 § 3. The environmental conservation law is amended by adding a new 4 section 17-0833 to read as follows: 5 § 17-0833. PFAS in surface water discharge disclosure requirement. 6 1. Definitions. As used in this section, the following terms shall 7 have the following meanings: 8 (a) "Perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances" or "PFAS" mean a 9 class of fluorinated organic chemicals containing at least one fully 10 fluorinated carbon atom. 11 (b) "SPDES permit" means an authorization or license issued by the 12 department authorizing discharges to the waters of the state. 13 (c) "Permittee" means the holder of a SPDES permit. 14 (d) "Outfall" means the terminus of a sewer system or the point of 15 emergence of any discharge of pollutants into the waters of the state. 16 (e) "Discharge" means the addition of any pollutant into the waters of 17 the state. 18 (f) "Industrial user" means a non-domestic source introducing pollu- 19 tants into a publicly owned treatment works as regulated under the 20 federal water pollution control act. 21 2. The department shall require all permittees to monitor their 22 discharges at each outfall for at least forty substances that are PFAS 23 quarterly for one year. Permittees shall submit the results of such 24 monitoring quarterly to the department. Permittees shall submit their 25 first monitoring results within ninety days of the issuance of such 26 requirement by the department. 27 3. The department shall require that every application for a new SPDES 28 permit shall include a statement from the applicant indicating whether 29 the proposed discharge will or may contain any PFAS. 30 4. All new SPDES permits shall require permittees to monitor 31 discharges from each outfall for at least forty substances that are PFAS 32 and submit the results of such monitoring within ninety days of the 33 commencement of the discharge. 34 5. The department shall require that every permittee seeking to renew 35 an existing SPDES permit shall, as part of its complete renewal applica- 36 tion, monitor for at least forty substances that are PFAS from each 37 outfall and submit the results of such monitoring to the department not 38 less than one hundred eighty days prior to the expiration of the exist- 39 ing permit. 40 6. The department shall require that if a permittee detects PFAS of 41 any amount in its discharge from any outfall, such permittee shall, on a 42 quarterly basis, monitor its discharge from each outfall where PFAS are 43 detected for at least forty substances that are PFAS for the duration of 44 the SPDES permit, including any period after the expiration of the SPDES 45 permit term when the permittee is authorized to discharge. The permittee 46 shall submit the results of such monitoring quarterly to the department. 47 7. The department shall require any new industrial user seeking to 48 introduce pollutants into any publicly owned treatment works to monitor 49 for at least forty substances that are PFAS and submit the results of 50 such monitoring to the publicly owned treatment works and the department 51 prior to receiving initial approval to introduce pollutants to the 52 publicly owned treatment works. 53 8. The department shall require every industrial user introducing 54 pollutants into any publicly owned treatment works to monitor for at 55 least forty substances that are PFAS quarterly for one year. Industrial 56 users shall submit the results of such monitoring quarterly to the

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1 publicly owned treatment works and the department. Industrial users 2 shall submit their first monitoring results within ninety days of the 3 issuance of such requirement by the department. 4 9. The department shall require that if an industrial user introducing 5 pollutants into a publicly owned treatment works detects PFAS of any 6 amount, such industrial user shall, on a quarterly basis, monitor for at 7 least forty substances that are PFAS and submit the results of such 8 monitoring quarterly to the publicly owned treatment works and the 9 department. 10 10. All PFAS monitoring shall be conducted using a PFAS testing method 11 or methods authorized by the department. The department shall authorize 12 the use of EPA draft method 1633. The department shall authorize addi- 13 tional methods that detect more PFAS as they become available and shall 14 require that the method that detects the largest number of PFAS shall be 15 used. 16 11. The department shall make publicly available on the department's 17 website all PFAS monitoring results submitted to the department. The 18 website shall be updated at least quarterly with all new monitoring 19 results received. 20 12. The department shall issue requirements for compliance with this 21 section within ninety days of the effective date of this section. 22 § 4. This act shall take effect immediately.