Summary
This bill amends the environmental conservation law by requiring the Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) to issue biennial reports listing high local environmental impact zones across the state. These are areas that are already adversely affected by existing environmental hazards.  The list would be compiled by collecting the best information available through a number of state and federal environmental databases – including census tract, census block group of nine-digit zip code – and bringing it together in one concise report.

Explanation
The siting of projects with potential adverse environmental impacts is a complex and difficult process. Unfortunately, geographic areas with existing environmental hazards are often selected as the site for new projects.

This bill provides an important tool for New York to address problems of environmental injustice by documenting the areas across the state that already host significant environmental hazards. Polluting facilities are often sited in minority and low-income communities.  By summarizing the existing pollution loads within certain areas and then identifying the top 5 percent of the high environmental impact zones, a higher level of attention will be brought to the issue of inequity in siting environmentally harmful facilities. This will complement DEC’s Environmental Justice Policy, announced in April 2003.  The bi-annual list will serve as an important tool in combating the construction of additional polluting and hazardous facilities in areas that already bear more than their fair share of the burden.  Additionally, important right-to-know information would be easily accessible to the general public, allowing them to be better educated about the environmental and health hazards that exist in their community.

Environmental Advocates of New York supports this bill.