New York State Assemblyman Fred W. Thiele, Jr. (I, D, WF-Sag Harbor) today joined Senator John Flanagan in sponsoring a bill to establish notification requirements for petroleum discharges or spills. The bill, S.1979, had no Assembly sponsor, until now.

The bill would require the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation to notify the chief executive officer of any municipality impacted by a petroleum discharge or spill, all landowners or tenants nearby whose property or drinking water supply may be impacted. The cost of notification would be paid for by the party responsible for the discharge or spill.

Assemblyman Thiele’s sponsorship is in response to the August 21st incident in front of the Sag Harbor Gym in the Village of Sag Harbor in which an estimated 218 gallons of transformer oil, containing PCB’s, was released due to a blown LIPA ground-level transformer. While remedial efforts were initiated immediately to excavate the impacted soils and pump out the affected groundwater, the Village of Sag Harbor nor the neighboring business were notified.

Assemblyman Thiele noted, “Spills of this nature, no matter what level of environmental or health risk they may pose, need to be reported.”