PRESS RELEASE

April 12, 2007

REPORT REVEALS ILLEGAL NATURE OF NEW YORK STATE'S WATER POLLUTION PERMITTING PROGRAM

(ALBANY, NY)— In a report released today, Environmental Advocates of New York revealed that the State of New York is violating the federal Clean Water Act by failing to review the performance of polluters throughout the state.  The report, Muddying the Waters: the Unknown Consequences of New York’s Failed Water Pollution Permitting Program, documents that the state has been running a program for years that allows polluters to escape oversight.

Environmental Advocates’ investigations uncovered that the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) is failing to adequately review the permits and the performance of over 90 percent of the facilities that discharge water pollution to the state’s lakes, streams, and drinking water supplies.  Sewage treatment plants, chemical plants, and heavy industrial facilities have escaped proper oversight, in some cases for more than 20 years. 

“The state is operating a water pollution control program that fails to live up to the goals of the federal Clean Water Act, violates state and federal law, and leaves the state’s lakes, streams, and water supplies at risk,” said Tim Sweeney, director of Environmental Advocates’ Regulatory Watch Program and the author of the report. 

Sweeney’s investigations uncovered that more than 1,150 facilities around the state have not undergone the required technical review of their pollution discharges for more than a decade, in clear violation of the federal Clean Water Act.  This is approximately 80 percent of the largest and most significant pollution sources in New York, representing tens of billions of gallons of polluted water that’s released every day.   

“From previous research we had done, we knew New York’s water pollution permitting program was suspect, but we were shocked to find out how truly out-of-whack it is,” said Sweeney. 

The facilities range from chemical plants, like one owned by Eastman Kodak in Rochester, to municipal sewage treatment plants and everything in between.  The facilities that have escaped oversight are located throughout the state.

“The lack of proper oversight of pollution discharges clearly results from the lack of staff and resources given to the Agency,” said Sweeney.  “Multiple documents we’ve reviewed in the course of our investigations point clearly to a lack of staff leading to a lack of prudent oversight.” 

Starting in 1992 the DEC began to prioritize which permits it would and would not look at.  The agency then made a decision to not review the permits and performance of facilities that were in the bottom 90 percent of those prioritized.  Consequently 1,150 polluters have not had their permits reviewed, nor their performance evaluated, in a decade or more.

According to the U. S. Environmental Protection Agency’s 2002 Water Assessment Data, in New York over 1,200 miles of rivers and streams and 284,000 acres of lakes, ponds and reservoirs are listed as impaired.  “Given this fact, it’s amazing that the state would choose to not scrutinize the performance of 1,150 facilities that collectively dump tens of billions of gallons of polluted water into the state’s lakes, rivers and streams every day,” said Sweeney.

Environmental Advocates investigations indicate that even facilities that are under consent orders to improve their performance are allowed to escape scrutiny by the DEC.  Facilities that the DEC knows are causing or contributing to violations of state water quality standards also are apparently escaping proper oversight. 

To view the report, visit http://www.eany.org/MuddyingtheWaters.pdf.

For the list of major and significant minor permits and the year of the last technical review, visit http://www.eany.org/WaterPermits.pdf.  For the current SPDES ranking list, visit http://www.dec.state.ny.us/website/dow/06ebpsdoc.pdf.

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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.