N.Y. Environmental Conservation Law § 76-0101: Definitions

§ 76-0101. Definitions.

For the purposes of this article the following terms shall have the

following meanings:

1. "Affiliate" means, with respect to any specified entity, an entity

that directly, or indirectly through one or more intermediaries,

controls or is controlled by, or is under common control with, the

entity specified.

2. "Applicable payment date" means December thirty-first of the fourth

calendar year following the year in which this article is enacted into

law.

3. "Climate change adaptive infrastructure project" means an

infrastructure project for purposes of climate change adaptation that:

a. includes but is not limited to projects designed to avoid,

moderate, repair, or adapt to negative impacts caused by climate change,

and to assist communities, households, and businesses in preparing for

future climate change-driven disruptions. Such project types include but

are not limited to restoring coastal wetlands and developing other

nature-based solutions and coastal protections; upgrading storm water

drainage systems; making defensive upgrades to roads, bridges, subways,

and transit systems; preparing for and recovering from hurricanes and

other extreme weather events; undertaking preventive health care

programs and providing medical care to treat illness or injury caused by

the effects of climate change; relocating, elevating, or retrofitting

wastewater treatment plants vulnerable to flooding; installing energy

efficient cooling systems and other weatherization and energy efficiency

upgrades and retrofits in public and private buildings, including

schools and public housing; upgrading parts of the electrical grid to

increase stability and resilience, including supporting the creation of

self-sufficient clean energy microgrids; addressing urban heat island

effects through green spaces, urban forestry, and other interventions;

and responding to harmful algal blooms, loss of agricultural topsoil,

and other climate-driven ecosystem threats to forests, farms, fisheries,

and food systems; and

b. is guided by the project criteria identified in the statewide

climate change adaptation and resilience plan adopted pursuant to

subdivision six of section 76-0103 of this article.

4. "Control" (including the terms controlling, controlled by and under

common control with) means the possession, direct or indirect, of the

power to direct or cause the direction of the management and policies of

an entity, whether through the ownership of voting securities, by

contract, or otherwise.

5. "Controlled group" means two or more entities that are affiliates

of each other.

6. "Cost recovery amount" means seventy-five billion dollars.

7. "Cost recovery demand" means the portion of the cost recovery

amount determined by the department pursuant to the program to be owed

by a responsible party for payment to the fund.

8. "Covered greenhouse gas emissions" means, with respect to any

entity, the total quantity of greenhouse gas emissions, expressed in

metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent, as defined in section 75-0101

of this chapter, attributable to the total amount of fossil fuels

extracted by that entity during the covered period, as well as the total

amount of crude oil refined by that entity during the covered period.

For the purposes of this article, covered greenhouse gas emissions

include those emissions attributable to all fossil fuel extraction and

refining worldwide by such entity and are not limited to such emissions

within the state.

9. "Covered period" means the period that began January first, two

thousand and ended on December thirty-first, two thousand twenty-four.

10. "Crude oil" means oil or petroleum of any kind and in any form,

including bitumen, oil sands, heavy oil, conventional and unconventional

oil, shale oil, natural gas liquids, condensates, and related fossil

fuels.

11. "Entity" means any individual, trustee, agent, partnership,

association, corporation, company, municipality, political subdivision,

or other legal organization, that holds or held an ownership interest in

a fossil fuel business during the covered period. For purposes of this

article, entities in a controlled group are treated as a single entity

for the purposes of meeting the definition of responsible party and

shall be jointly and severally liable for payment of any cost recovery

demand owed by any entity in the controlled group.

12. "Fossil fuel" shall have the same definition as in section 1-103

of the energy law.

13. "Fossil fuel business" means a business engaging in the extraction

of fossil fuels or the refining of petroleum products.

14. "Fund" means the climate change adaptation fund established

pursuant to section ninety-seven-m of the state finance law.

15. "Greenhouse gas" shall have the same definition as in section

75-0101 of this chapter.

16. "Nature-based solutions" shall mean projects that utilize or mimic

nature or natural processes and functions and that may also offer

environmental, economic, and social benefits, while increasing

resilience. Nature-based solutions include both green and natural

infrastructure.

17. "Notice of cost recovery demand" means the written communication

informing an entity that they are a responsible party and of the amount

of the cost recovery demand payable to the fund.

18. "Petroleum products" shall have the same definition as in section

1-103 of the energy law.

19. "Program" means the climate change adaptation cost recovery

program established under section 76-0103 of this article.

20. "Qualifying expenditure" means a payment from the fund in support

of a climate change adaptive infrastructure project, including its

operation and maintenance, as defined by the department.

21. "Responsible party" means any entity (or a successor in interest

to such entity described herein), which, during any part of the covered

period, was engaged in the trade or business of extracting fossil fuel

or refining crude oil and is determined by the department to be

responsible for more than one billion tons of covered greenhouse gas

emissions. The term responsible party shall not include any person who

lacks sufficient contacts with the state to satisfy the due process

clause of the United States Constitution.