N.Y. Environmental Conservation Law § 27-0921: Short-term management

§ 27-0921. Short-term management.

1. a. The commissioner shall immediately begin preparation of a

proposal for a short-term hazardous waste management program for the

effective and safe disposal, treatment and storage of hazardous waste.

Such program shall be coordinated with the on-going comprehensive

program for the long-term treatment and disposal of hazardous waste.

b. As part of the proposal, a comprehensive study shall be made with

regard to the short-term needs of New York state generators of hazardous

waste consistent with the protection of public health and safety and the

environment and in light of:

(1) federal and state laws, rules and regulations designed to ensure

proper disposition of hazardous waste from generation to final storage

or treatment which place substantial responsibilities on industry to

responsibly and safely dispose of hazardous waste;

(2) the identified shortfall in existing available storage, treatment

and disposal capacity, and the potential economic and environmental

problems that may occur as a result of the potential disruption of

operation of the presently permitted commercial industrial hazardous

waste disposal, treatment and storage facilities located in New York;

and

(3) the fact that it will take a period of several years before a

comprehensive program for the long-term disposal and treatment of

hazardous waste is in operation sufficient to replace or reduce present

methods of hazardous waste disposal.

c. The proposed short-term hazardous waste management program shall

incorporate the best short-term methods and means available to contain,

store and treat hazardous waste. In preparing the program, consideration

shall be given to the short-term needs of New York state generators of

hazardous waste, to the siting of secure landfills or other storage

facilities on suitable private or state-owned land, to the development

and construction of such facilities in a manner to safely allow for the

eventual retrieval of hazardous waste for the purpose of ultimate

destruction, detoxification, or neutralization by industrial hazardous

waste treatment facilities, to the options of public versus private

ownership and operation of such facilities, to the ongoing efforts to

establish and maintain a statewide waste exchange system, and to the

establishment of incentives to encourage reduction of the amount of

hazardous waste generated.

2. Not later than January first, nineteen hundred eighty-two, the

commissioner shall submit to the legislature the study and the proposal

for a short-term hazardous waste management program required pursuant to

subdivision one of this section, including any proposed implementing

legislation and rules and regulations where appropriate.