STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
6824
2019-2020 Regular Sessions
IN SENATE
November 1, 2019
___________
Introduced by Sen. LITTLE -- read twice and ordered printed, and when
printed to be committed to the Committee on Rules
AN ACT to establish the Adirondack road salt reduction task force, pilot
plan and test program
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. This act shall be known and may be cited as the "Randy
2 Preston road salt reduction act".
3 § 2. 1. There is hereby established an Adirondack road salt reduction
4 task force which shall consist of the following fifteen members:
5 (a) the commissioner of the department of transportation, commissioner
6 of department of environmental conservation, commissioner of the depart-
7 ment of health, or the designees of such commissioners;
8 (b) the executive director of the Adirondack park agency or their
9 designee;
10 (c) four appointees by the governor;
11 (d) one designee of the attorney general;
12 (e) two at large appointees by the Senate majority;
13 (f) two at large appointees by the Assembly majority;
14 (g) one appointee by the Assembly minority;
15 (h) one appointee by the Senate minority.
16 2. The at large members of the task force shall include individuals
17 with expertise in the science of road salt contamination and the best
18 practices of road management. Task force members shall receive no
19 compensation for their services but shall be reimbursed for actual and
20 necessary expenses incurred in the performance of their duties, to the
21 extent funds are appropriated for such purpose. The co-chairpersons of
22 the task force shall be the commissioners of environmental conservation
23 and transportation or their designees. Each member of the council shall
24 be entitled to one vote. The task force's approval and adoption of the
25 final report pursuant to this section, and any subsequent interim
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD13704-02-9
S. 6824 2
1 updates thereto, shall require a supermajority of the task force. No
2 action may be taken by the task force unless there is a quorum, which
3 shall be a majority of the members of the task force. Any vacancies on
4 the task force shall be filled in the manner provided for the initial
5 appointment.
6 3. The task force shall assess current department of transportation
7 policies and practices, establishing levels of service for state roadway
8 management in winter weather for the Adirondack park. This assessment
9 shall be based on the best available science concerning road salt
10 contamination and the nature, scope and magnitude of associated impacts
11 to our surface and ground waters, public and private lands, property and
12 infrastructure.
13 4. The task force shall prepare and submit to the governor, the tempo-
14 rary president of the senate, the speaker of the assembly, the chairs of
15 the senate committees on transportation, environmental conservation and
16 health, the chairs of the assembly committees on transportation, envi-
17 ronmental conservation and health, on or before September first, two
18 thousand twenty-one, a report containing:
19 (a) findings of an initial assessment of nature, scope and magnitude
20 of associated impacts to surface and ground waters, public and private
21 lands, property, health and infrastructure in the Adirondacks using the
22 best available science. This assessment shall include but not be limited
23 to measures of salt contamination to drinking water and estimates of the
24 cost of salt-induced property damage across the Adirondack park;
25 (b) a review of current state road management practices and levels of
26 service for state and local roadways in the Adirondack park;
27 (c) a list of actions to be taken by members of the task force, state
28 and local governments and the public to:
29 i. enhance winter road maintenance levels of service and best manage-
30 ment practices and road salt reduction techniques to reduce road salt
31 contamination of surface and ground waters in the Adirondacks;
32 ii. respond rapidly to surface and groundwater contamination in the
33 Adirondack park with the intent to mitigate and remediate impacts of
34 sodium and chloride pollution for homeowners;
35 iii. establish a training program for state and local winter road
36 maintenance workers; and
37 iv. advance a public education campaign to inform the public about
38 road salt contamination and how the public can reduce the need for road
39 salt;
40 (d) a proposal to offer relief for owners of property in the Adiron-
41 dacks who can demonstrate harm as a result of the application of road
42 salt along state roadways;
43 (e) a calculation of the amount of road salt applied on state roadways
44 annually for the years 2008 through 2018 in the Adirondacks between
45 October and April of each winter road management season to serve as a
46 baseline amount;
47 (f) a publicly accessible record-keeping database system for road salt
48 purchases with information on applications across the Adirondack park;
49 (g) road salt reduction targets for the Adirondack park which shall
50 serve to guide the department of transportation, department of health,
51 and department of environmental conservation in measurably reducing
52 sodium and chloride levels in surface and ground waters; and
53 (h) recommendations for a robust Adirondack park road salt reduction
54 pilot plan and test program including monitoring and operational plan
55 goals, objectives, and activities that will subsequently be implemented
56 during a multi-year pilot program from 2021 through 2024.
S. 6824 3
1 § 3. 1. There is hereby established an Adirondack park road salt
2 reduction pilot plan and test program. The department of transportation,
3 in partnership with the department of environmental conservation, shall
4 conduct a multi-year pilot study, between October 15 and June 30, for
5 the years of 2021 through 2024, to test best management practices,
6 updated levels of service, and overall road salt reduction targets. The
7 pilot plan shall be implemented on all state-owned roadways within the
8 boundary of the Adirondack park.
9 2. For the duration of the pilot plan, the department of transporta-
10 tion and department of environmental conservation shall test a variety
11 of application techniques and road management strategies, and shall
12 issue a report on the effectiveness of such techniques and strategies
13 which shall include the resulting impacts to water quality and levels of
14 service for each technique and strategy. The techniques and strategies
15 employed shall include, but not be limited to:
16 (a) varying application methods, rates and frequencies with the intent
17 to measurably reduce road salt applied to state roadways. This shall
18 include test comparisons of applications consisting primarily of abra-
19 sives and applications consisting primarily of deicers, especially anti-
20 icing and deicing brines;
21 (b) implementation of well-established best practices such as cutting
22 back the canopy where legal and appropriate, and pre-wetting abrasives
23 or solid deicers;
24 (c) use of the best available technology and equipment for winter road
25 management;
26 (d) changes to traffic management or reducing speed limits when weath-
27 er events make road conditions unsafe;
28 (e) third party organizations monitoring water quality of surface and
29 ground waters on downhill slopes of state roadways in the Adirondack
30 park, with all results disclosed to the public in the pilot plan report;
31 (f) monitoring road conditions with cameras along state roadways;
32 (g) monitoring truck operators using post-trip reporting and real time
33 truck operation monitoring;
34 (h) tracking accident rates in the Adirondacks that have a connection
35 to poor weather; and
36 (i) launching a public education and outreach campaign keeping Adiron-
37 dack residents and visitors informed of changes to winter road mainte-
38 nance practices, speed limits and engaging the public to change behav-
39 iors to support salt reduction efforts.
40 3. Following the completion of the pilot plan, the department of
41 transportation and department of environmental conservation shall submit
42 a summary report to the Adirondack road salt reduction task force by
43 August 30, 2024, identifying effective and ineffective techniques for
44 winter road maintenance and revised levels of service in the Adirondack
45 park.
46 § 4. This act shall take effect immediately.