Establishes air quality standards for lead in ambient air, soil-lead hazard standards for lead-contaminated soil, and dust-lead hazard standards and dust-lead clearance levels for floors and windows and window troughs.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
122
2025-2026 Regular Sessions
IN SENATE(Prefiled)
January 8, 2025
___________
Introduced by Sens. CLEARE, ROLISON -- read twice and ordered printed,
and when printed to be committed to the Committee on Environmental
Conservation
AN ACT to amend the environmental conservation law and the public health
law, in relation to establishing air quality standards for lead in
ambient air, soil-lead hazard standards for lead-contaminated soil,
and dust-lead hazard standards and dust-lead clearance levels for
floors and windows and window troughs
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Legislative findings. The legislature finds and declares
2 that there is a present need to establish New York standards, in a
3 manner that would be fully protective of human health, with respect to
4 levels of lead in ambient air, levels of lead contamination in soils,
5 dust-lead hazard levels and dust-lead clearance levels for floors,
6 window sills and window troughs. The legislature finds that the current
7 regulatory standards are inadequate to protect the general public and
8 particularly children from the harmful effects of ingesting or inhaling
9 lead dust and coming into contact with lead on exposed surfaces. Low
10 levels of lead in children's blood can have an adverse effect on concen-
11 tration and intellectual achievement and can have a long-term impact on
12 health and quality of life. Lead from ambient air can contribute to
13 lead in soil as well as contribute to other pathways that are a danger
14 to public health and the environment. Hazardous levels of lead dust can
15 be released from the peeling or chipping of lead-based paint, from
16 plumbing fixtures, from the demolition of buildings and from the exca-
17 vation of and construction of buildings on sites that contained lead-
18 contaminated soil or factories that used lead in manufacturing proc-
19 esses. The legislature declares that it shall be the responsibility of
20 the commissioner of environmental conservation, in consultation with the
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD00259-01-5
S. 122 2
1 commissioner of health, to adopt emission standards for lead in ambient
2 air, soil-lead hazard standards for lead-contaminated soil, and dust-
3 lead hazard standards and dust-lead clearance levels for floors and
4 windows and window troughs, and in accordance with the procedures set
5 forth in the environmental conservation law.
6 § 2. Subdivision 1 of section 3-0301 of the environmental conserva-
7 tion law is amended by adding a new paragraph ii to read as follows:
8 ii. In consultation with the commissioner of health pursuant to subdi-
9 vision thirty-two of section two hundred six of the public health law,
10 and in accordance with paragraph a of subdivision two of this section,
11 the commissioner shall adopt environmental standards and those rules
12 having the force and effect of standards and criteria to carry out the
13 purposes of such standards, which shall require:
14 (1) that a soil-lead hazard within the meaning of part 40 of the code
15 of federal regulations section 745.65(c) for an area containing lead-
16 contaminated soil shall be a level of lead contamination not greater
17 than what is necessary to be fully protective of human health, provided
18 that in no event shall such level for such purpose be greater than one
19 hundred parts per million for bare soil on (i) residential property,
20 (ii) the property of a child occupied facility and (iii) a children's
21 play area as defined in part 40 of the code of federal regulations
22 section 745.63; and in no event a level greater than two hundred parts
23 per million for bare soil in the rest of the yard based on soil samples,
24 and in no event a level greater than one thousand parts per million for
25 areas zoned for commercial and/or industrial development.
26 (2) that a dust-lead hazard within the meaning of part 40 of the code
27 of federal regulations section 745.65(b) shall be a level not greater
28 than what is necessary to be fully protective of human health, and a
29 level not greater than zero as analyzed by any laboratory recognized by
30 the federal environmental protection agency's national lead laboratory
31 accreditation program.
32 (3) that dust-lead clearance levels for these hazards, within the
33 meaning of part 40 of the code of federal regulations section 745.223,
34 shall be at a level not greater than what is necessary to be fully
35 protective of human health and in no event at a level greater than three
36 micrograms per square foot for floors, a level greater than twenty
37 micrograms per square foot for window sills and a level greater than
38 twenty-five micrograms per square foot for window troughs;
39 (4) that the average ambient air quality standard for lead, calculated
40 as a rolling three-month average, shall not be greater than .075 micro-
41 grams per cubic meter.
42 § 3. Section 206 of the public health law is amended by adding a new
43 subdivision 32 to read as follows:
44 32. The commissioner, upon request of the commissioner of environ-
45 mental conservation, shall consult with such commissioner on the
46 creation and adoption of dust-lead hazard standards for lead concen-
47 trations in lead-contaminated soil, lead dust concentrations on floors
48 and window sills and window troughs, dust-lead clearance levels and air
49 quality standards for lead emissions in ambient air in a manner that
50 would be fully protective of human health.
51 § 4. Severability clause. If any clause, sentence, paragraph, subdivi-
52 sion, section or part of this act shall be adjudged by any court of
53 competent jurisdiction to be invalid, such judgment shall not affect,
54 impair, or invalidate the remainder thereof, but shall be confined in
55 its operation to the clause, sentence, paragraph, subdivision, section
56 or part thereof directly involved in the controversy in which such judg-
S. 122 3
1 ment shall have been rendered. It is hereby declared to be the intent of
2 the legislature that this act would have been enacted even if such
3 invalid provisions had not been included herein.
4 § 5. This act shall take effect on the ninetieth day after it shall
5 have become a law. Effective immediately, the addition, amendment
6 and/or repeal of any rule or regulation necessary for the implementation
7 of this act on its effective date are authorized to be made and
8 completed on or before such date.
