Provides that the commissioner of environmental conservation shall place and operate certain air quality monitoring systems in proximity to NY city airports.
NEW YORK STATE ASSEMBLY MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT OF LEGISLATION submitted in accordance with Assembly Rule III, Sec 1(f)
BILL NUMBER: A666
SPONSOR: Aubry TITLE OF BILL:
An act to amend the environmental conservation law, in relation to
requiring the commissioner of environmental conservation to place
certain air quality monitoring systems within a one-mile radius of all
airports located within a city having a population of one million or
more
PURPOSE:
The purpose of this legislation is direct the Commissioner of Environ-
mental Conservation to place and operate air quality monitoring systems
at New York City Airports.
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:
Section 1: Amends the environmental conservation law by adding a new
section 19-0322. Section 2: Sets forth the effective date.
JUSTIFICATION:
The Clean Air Act requires that the federal Environmental Protection
Agency and the State Department of Environmental Conservation take steps
to ensure clean air quality by 2010. Air quality in all of New York
City's counties have recently received very low clean air ratings.
Increased airplane emissions from area airports further aggravate the
City's air quality, dumping additional exhaust and fume discharges on
neighborhoods, especially Queens, which hosts both John F. Kennedy
International and LaGuardia Airports. According to a study by the
Natural Resources Defense Council, the airports are among the top
producers of ground-level ozone and smog in Queens. There are no cata-
lytic converters to minimize harmful jet fuel emissions, and the emis-
sions from one plane are equal to that of 3,000 cars. Children in Queens
suffer from asthma in disproportionate numbers, especially those living
in proximity to airports.
Additionally, roadways leading to and from the airports are filled 24
hours a day with traffic, with cars, light trucks and pollution-emitting
diesel trucks, thus exacerbating the situation.
The EPA's failing marks on air quality have required the state to come
up with an improvement plan. Health advocates, environmentalists and
elected officials agree that monitoring the air around New York City's
airports will provide precise information about the presence of air
pollution and show the success or failure of pollution-reduction
efforts.
New monitors detect ozone and fine particle pollution. Ozone and fine
particulates are only two types of air pollution, but they are consid-
ered the deadliest. Fine particulate pollution is small enough to pene-
trate the deeper regions of the body's respiratory system, and exposure
has been associated with serious health problems, including the aggra-
vation of asthma, the development of chronic bronchitis, heart attacks
and premature death.
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
2021-2022: Referred to Environmental Conservation in 2021 and Referred
to Environmental Conservation in 2022.
2019-2020: Referred to Environmental Conservation in 2019 and Referred
to Environmental Conservation in 2020.
2017-2018: Referred to Environmental Conservation in 2017 and Referred
to Environmental Conservation in 2018.
2015-2016: Referred to Environmental Conservation in 2015 and Referred
to Environmental Conservation in 2016.
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:
To be determined.
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect on the one hundred eightieth day after it
shall have become a law.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
666
2023-2024 Regular Sessions
IN ASSEMBLY
January 11, 2023
___________
Introduced by M. of A. AUBRY -- read once and referred to the Committee
on Environmental Conservation
AN ACT to amend the environmental conservation law, in relation to
requiring the commissioner of environmental conservation to place
certain air quality monitoring systems within a one-mile radius of all
airports located within a city having a population of one million or
more
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. The environmental conservation law is amended by adding a
2 new section 19-0322 to read as follows:
3 § 19-0322. Air quality monitoring systems required within a one-mile
4 radius of all airports within a city having a population of
5 one million or more.
6 1. The commissioner shall place and operate an ambient air quality
7 monitor network within a one-mile radius of all airports in cities
8 having a population of one million or more. The network shall contin-
9 uously measure data for ozone, sulfur dioxide, oxides of nitrogen,
10 carbon dioxide, meteorological data, PM 1.0 and PM 2.5. The network
11 shall also include an automated data acquisition system employed to poll
12 the sites to retrieve readings into a central data management system.
13 The data shall undergo verification and validation by a supervising site
14 engineer which shall follow established quality assurance and quality
15 control procedures.
16 2. The commissioner shall place and operate a photochemical assessment
17 monitoring station and a national ambient toxic trend station within a
18 one-mile radius of all airports located within a city having a popu-
19 lation of one million or more. Such stations shall monitor volatile
20 organic compounds as ozone precursors during the summer ozone season for
21 the purpose of determining the quality of ambient air and developing
22 programs to target appropriate source categories for emission reduction.
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD01602-01-3
A. 666 2
1 3. The commissioner or his or her representative, shall periodically
2 meet with site engineers, local community organizations and elected
3 officials representing the area in which an airport is located, to
4 inform them of the results of the air quality monitoring and, if neces-
5 sary, to recommend or establish programs to mitigate any adverse ambient
6 air quality.
7 § 2. This act shall take effect on the one hundred eightieth day after
8 it shall have become a law.
