BILL NUMBER : S1258

 TITLE OF BILL :
An act to amend the environmental conservation law, in relation to the
granting of permits to mine


 PURPOSE :
To prohibit the Department of Environmental Conservation from
approving an application or granting a permit to mine mineral
resources if the locality within which such mining is proposed to take
place has an effective local law or ordinance prohibiting such
activity at the location at which such mining is proposed to take
place.

 SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS :
Section 1 amends subdivision 3 of section 23-2703 of the Environmental
Conservation Law to provide that if mining is prohibited by local law
or ordinance at the proposed location, the Department of Environmental
Conservation (nor any other agency in the State) may neither consider
an application for a permit to mine as complete, nor process an
application for a permit to mine, if local laws or ordinances prohibit
the proposed mining use or uses within the area proposed to be mined.
Section 2 provides for the effective date.

 EXISTING LAW :
              

Currently, Article 23 of the Environmental Conservation Law (Mineral
Resources) provides for a local government to be notified when an
application has been made to the Department to mine within such
locality.  It also provides a process by which the chief officer of
the locality can inform the Department as to whether or not mining is
prohibited at the location by the local government.  The current
statute, however, allows the Department to ignore the local land use
controls and approve an application and grant a permit to mine
irrespective of such local controls, except within counties with a
population of one million or more which draws its primary source of
drinking water for the majority of the county residents from a
designated sole source aquifer (i.e.- Long Island).

 JUSTIFICATION :
New York State has a strong tradition of municipal home rule.
Particularly in the area of land use control, New York statutes cedes
virtually all control to local governments, which are better suited to
respond to the needs of its inhabitants with respect to the character
of their community.  In the area of mining mineral resources, the
state should not abrogate this philosophy and, moreover, the
Department of Environmental Conservation should not expend the
taxpayer's resources to review and grant a permit for an activity
which is prohibited by local regulation.

 LEGISLATIVE HISTORY :
2007-2008: S.448 - referred to Environmental Conservation
2005-2006: S.315 - referred to Environmental Conservation
2003-2004: S.477 - referred to Environmental Conservation
2001-2002: S.4576 - referred to Environmental Conservation
1999-2000: S.4967 - referred to Environmental Conservation
1997-1998: S.1727 - referred to Environmental Conservation
1995-1996: S.5582-A - referred to Environmental Conservation

 FISCAL IMPLICATIONS :
None.

 EFFECTIVE DATE :
Immediately.