PRESS RELEASE

April 28, 2008

NEW YORK STATE FAILS TO MONITOR WATER POLLUTION PERMITS, ENDANGERS HEALTH OF STATE'S WATERS

"Permission to Pollute" Report Documents how DEC's Rubber-Stamp Permit Reviews violate Clean Water Act

(ALBANY, NY)—Environmental Advocates of New York released a new report today detailing serious flaws in the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation’s (DEC) oversight of hundreds of water pollution sources across the state. The report, Permission to Pollute, documents how the state’s primary environmental agency is rubber-stamping water pollution permits without substantive review, as required every five years under the federal Clean Water Act. Environmental Advocates’ investigation also uncovered that the public is being denied its right to scrutinize hundreds of permits issued by the DEC that authorize the discharge of billions of gallons of sewage and industrial pollution every day.

Click here to read the report.

According to the report, the DEC’s practice of rubber-stamping and renewing expired water pollution permits endangers the health of the state’s waters. The lack of staff at the agency is the main driver behind the DEC’s inadequate permit review practice; there simply aren’t enough engineers at the agency to scrutinize New York’s polluters and the permits that authorize water pollution discharges.   

Permission to Pollute is the follow-up to Muddying the Waters: The Unknown Consequences of New York’s Failed Water Pollution Permitting Program, which documented how the DEC did not review the water pollution permits of more than 1,100 facilities for over a decade—in clear violation of federal law. Permission to Pollute is an in-depth look at about 10 percent of the pollution permits administratively renewed and rubber-stamped by the agency over the past 10 months beginning in July 2007.

“The Department of Environmental Conservation is rubber-stamping water pollution permits without regard to the impact of sewage and industrial waste on New York’s rivers, lakes and streams,” said Katherine Nadeau, Water & Natural Resources Program Associate, Environmental Advocates of New York. “But the most frightening problem our research uncovered is what we don’t know. Because of the Department of Environmental Conservation’s lack of oversight, we can’t say what’s in our waters. And neither can the DEC.” 

While the ultimate impacts to New York’s waters are unknown, Permission to Pollute reveals that:

• Some water pollution permits in New York State have gone without thorough review for more than 20 years.
   

• Nearly all of the facilities reviewed for the report had permit violations resulting in the release of unsafe levels of pollution.
   

• The DEC’s administrative renewal of permits excludes the public and denies the public its rights to scrutinize polluting activities.
   

• Records and documents made available by the agency in response to our requests were often inconsistent and incomplete.

"The state’s Department of Environmental Conservation rubber-stamps 90 percent of the water pollution permits issued in New York with no substantive review,” said Robert Moore, executive director of Environmental Advocates of New York. “And the agency knows that many of these facilities are contributing to excessive pollution problems in our streams and lakes, some of which are also public water supplies.”

Due to staff cuts under the Pataki Administration, New York State has failed to properly oversee and regulate the pollution discharged into New York’s waterways for almost 15 years. As the public agency responsible for protecting the health of the state’s waters, the DEC’s practice of rubber-stamping water pollution permits must end. Environmental Advocates of New York is calling on Governor David Paterson and the State Legislature to make sure the DEC has the resources it needs to properly enforce the Clean Water Act.

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Environmental Advocates of New York is the state’s government watchdog, holding lawmakers and agencies accountable for implementing policy that protects natural resources and safeguards public health. Environmental Advocates works alone and in coalitions, and has more than 7,000 individual and 130 organizational members. The 501(c)(3) is also the New York affiliate of the National Wildlife Federation. For more information call 518.462.5526 or visit www.eany.org.