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Business
Council Guide to
Environmental Law Resources on the Web
- NEW
YORK STATE AGENCIES AND AUTHORITIES
-
NEW YORK STATE LEGISLATION, STATUTES AND REGULATIONS
-
DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL CONSERVATION GUIDANCE
DOCUMENTS
-
FEDERAL LEGISLATION, STATUTES AND REGULATIONS
-
ENVIRONMENTAL RESOURCES
-
ENVIRONMENTAL NEWS
1.
NEW YORK STATE AGENCIES AND AUTHORITIES
- New
York State Department of Environmental Conservation (www.dec.state.ny.us)
- The content of this web site is increasing rapidly. It contains information
on all DEC programs, including regulations and most formal guidance
documents. The following section on "Legal Resources" includes specific
web sites for DEC regulations and guidance documents.
- New
York State Environmental Facilities Corporation (www.nysefc.org/)
- The EFC is a public benefit corporation that provides a range of environmental
financing and technical assistance programs to private sector firms.
- New
York State Department of Health (www.health.state.ny.us/homens.html)-
The DOH web site main page contains information on some environmental
programs, such as the state's "cancer mapping programs."
- New
York State Department of Health/Environmental and Occupational Health
(www.health.state.ny.us/nysdoh/environ/mainres.htm)
- This location on the DOH web site presents information on a wide range
of environmental topics, including the state's heavy metal registry,
its pesticide use registry and others.
- NYS
DOH Hazardous Substances Emergency Events Surveillance Project
(www.health.state.ny.us/nysdoh/environ/hsees/hsees.htm)
- This DOH web page is devoted to its program for evaluating the impact
of chemical spills. It includes information on releases, and injuries
and fatalities related to releases.
- Empire
State Development Corporation/Environmental Service Programs
(www.empire.state.ny.us/serv_reducecosts_ea.html)
- The ESDC (formerly the NYS Department of Economic Development) provides
several environmental compliance and stewardship programs, including
the CAA "small business compliance assistance program," and several
financial assistance programs for private sector firms.
- Governor's
Office of Regulatory Reform (www.gorr.state.ny.us/gorr/)
- This Office provides a range of regulatory analysis and compliance
assistance programs, including "master permit applications" for a wide
range of business activities.
- Office
of Attorney General (NYS Department of Law) Environmental Protection
Bureau (www.oag.state.ny.us/environment/environment.html)
- This web site consists primarily of reports and press releases related
to environmental issues issued by the Office of Attorney General.
- New
York State Energy Research and Development Agency (www.nyserda.org/)
- This public benefit corporation provides a range of technical assistance
and financing programs that can be applied to environmental issues related
directly or indirectly to energy usage.
2.
NEW YORK STATE LEGISLATION, STATUTES AND REGULATIONS
- Environmental
Regulations (www.dec.state.ny.us/website/regs/index.html)
- Most state environmental quality regulations can be obtained on-line
from this location on the Department of Environmental Conservation's
web site. They are listed numerically; no search function is provided.
They can be read or downloaded in htm (rather than pdf) format.
- NYS
DEC "Environmental Notice Bulletin" (www.dec.state.ny.us/website/enb/index.html)
- The ENB is an official, weekly DEC publication that provides public
notice of proposed regulations and guidance documents, notices of complete
permit applications and SEQR determinations, and other DEC announcements.
This web location provides the current ENB, plus archives going back
to January 1999.
- New
York State "Register" (www.dos.state.ny.us/info/tocs.html)
- The "State Register" is New York's official weekly publication listing
proposed rulemakings, Executive Orders and other official notices. Its
text is not yet available on the web, however you can download
(in pdf format) the table of contents from each week's edition of the
Register from this web location.
Note that the State Register is available on a subscription basis, $80
annually for first-class mail delivery. Prepayment is required; checks
should be made payable to the Department of State. The address is: NYS
Department of State, Division of Administrative Rules, 41 State Street,
Albany, NY 12231-0001.
-
Current
Legislative Proposals - Information on pending New York State
legislative proposals, including bill summaries, status, and text,
can be obtained from two legislative web sites, one sponsored by the State
Senate and on by the State Assembly. Both sites are listed below. Both provide
bill search capabilities by bill number and key word.
www.senate.state.ny.us/
http://assembly.state.ny.us/leg/
-
-
DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL
CONSERVATION GUIDANCE DOCUMENTS - The Department of
Environmental Conservation has adopted many guidance and policy documents.
While they do not have the force and effect of law, they are a valuable
resource in understanding how the Department implements its permitting
and other regulatory programs.
- Division
of Air Resources Guidance Documents (www.dec.state.ny.us/website/dar/boss/policy-docs.html)
- The DAR's permitting guidance memos (e.g., DAR-1, the former "Air
Guide 1," which describes the Department's approach for assessing impact
of air pollutant emissions" are available at this location.
- Division
of Air Resources Permitting documents (www.dec.state.ny.us/website/Dar/boss/resource.html)
- You can download air permit applications, and guidelines for completing
and submitting permit applications, for air pollution sources from this
site.
- Division
of Water Technical and Organizational Guidance Series (www.dec.state.ny.us/website/dow/togs/tog_cont.htm)
- These Division of Water guidance documents (TOGS) cover a range of
issues related to the permitting of waste water discharges.
- Environmental
Remediation Guidance - The Division of Environmental Remediation
publishes two sets of guidance documents: Technical and Administrative
Guidance Memos (or TAGMs) for hazardous waste site cleanups, and Spill
Technology and Remediation Series guidance (or STARS) for petroleum
spill sites. Their respective web locations are as follows:
www.dec.state.ny.us/website/der/tagms/index.html
www.dec.state.ny.us/website/der/stars/index.html
- Waste
Management - The Division of Solid & Hazardous Materials
maintains a series of guidance documents, know as the Technical and
Administrative Guidance Memoranda series (TAGMs). At this time, the
Division's TAGMs are not available on the web. Questions can be directed
to the Division's Bureau of Program Management, Planning & Program
Section at (518) 457-3273.
- SEQR
and Uniform Procedures (www.dec.state.ny.us/website/dcs/seqr/index.html)
- Information on the requirements of the State Environmental Quality
Review Act (SEQRA), and guidance on complying with SEQRA and preparing
environmental impact statements, can be obtained here.
- Enforcement
Guidance Memoranda (www.dec.state.ny.us/website/ogc/egm/index.html)
- The Division of Environmental Enforcement has adopted a series of
Enforcement Guidance Memoranda (or EGMs) that set forth the Department's
enforcement strategy for violations of the Environmental Conservation
Law, the implementing regulations, and Orders and Permits.
4. FEDERAL LEGISLATION, STATUTES
AND REGULATIONS
- U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency (www.epa.gov/)
- The EPA's web site contains an enormous amount of information regarding
federal environmental programs, regulations, policy and guidance.
- US
EPA Region 2 (www.epa.gov/region02/)
- Each EPA regional office maintains their own web sites. These regional
sites include information on environmental issues within the region.
Regional offices may also develop region-specific policies and guidance
relating to federal programs (e.g., Region 2 guidance on environmental
justice analysis.) These documents can be obtained from the individual
Regions' web sites.
- EPA
"Hotlines" - The Environmental Protection Agency sponsors a
number of "hotlines" - some compliance related (e.g., the National Response
Center for reporting releases), but most related to compliance information
(e.g., the RCRA hotline.) You can access their directory at: www.epa.gov/epahome/hotline.htm.
- Federal
Statutes (www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/)
- The text of current federal statues (the US Code) can be located and
downloaded from the Cornell University Legal Information Institute web
page. Note that most federal environmental statutes are in Title 42.
- Federal
Regulations (www.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/cfrassemble.cgi?title=199840)
- EPA regulations - and those of other federal regulatory agencies -
can be accessed and downloaded from the National Archives web site.
Note that most federal environmental rules are found in Title 40 of
the Code of Federal Regulations, and the following web location will
take you to Title 40.
- Federal
Register - The Federal Register is the official, daily compilation
of regulatory activity and other public announcements from Federal agencies.
It includes notices of the intent to promulgate rules, draft rules,
and final rules. Most final rules include extensive preambles, which
explain the intent of the rules, alternatives considered, anticipated
impacts, and other information related to the final rule. The following
National Archives web site allows access to the 1995 through 2001 Federal
Register. It has key word search capabilities as well. www.access.gpo.gov/su_docs/aces/aces140.html
- EPA
Federal Register Site (www.epa.gov/fedrgstr/)
- Here is a shortcut to Federal regulatory information. The EPA maintains
its own web site for environmental documents published in the Federal
Register. This page allows for access to all volumes of the Federal
Register from 1994 to present, and allows you to access documents in
either .html or .pdf format.
- Federal
Legislation and Congressional Activity (www.epa.gov/fedrgstr/)
- The Library of Congress web site provides information on current congressional
activity, including access to the text of federal legislation. The site
is named after Thomas Jefferson.
- US
Army Corps of Engineers (www.usace.army.mil/)
- The Corps manages several federal regulatory programs addressing wetlands,
navigable waterways, and others.
5.
ENVIRONMENTAL RESOURCES
- EPA
Integrated Risk Information System (www.epa.gov/iris/)
- IRIS is the EPA data source for human health risk information on specific
chemicals and compounds.
- Agency
for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (www.atsdr.cdc.gov/atsdrhome.html)
- ATSDR, an agency of the US Department of Health and Human conducts
chemical hazard assessments health surveillance and registries, and
education and training concerning hazardous substances.
- ASTM
(www.astm.org/)
- The American Society for Testing and Materials establishes generally
accepted standards on a wide range of environmental issues and practices,
such as site investigations, risk based corrective action, and others.
This site provides an index of current standards; the text of standards
must be purchased from ASTM.
- MSDSs
on the Web (www.ilpi.com/msds/index.html)
- This site provides access to more than 80 free internet sources of
"material safety data sheets," including governmental sources, chemical
manufacturers and suppliers, and others.
-
Chemical Abstract Services (www.cas.org/)
- This web site is hosted by the America Chemistry Council (formerly
the Chemical Manufacturers Association.) It principal databases include
chemical abstracts and chemical registries, and include (by their
count) 16 million document records and more than 31 million substance
records respectively. CAS also produces databases of chemical reactions,
commercially available chemicals, listed regulated chemicals, and compounds
claimed in patents.
6.
ENVIRONMENTAL NEWS
- National
Environmental News (www.msnbc.com/news/ENVIRONMENT_Front.asp)
- National environmental news stories from MSNBC.
- New
York State Environmental News (www.newyorkwired.com/zbcformat.htm)
- You can access the "New York Wired" news service on The Business Council's
web site. This service provides news articles from most New York State
dailies. Scroll about three-quarters of the way down the index to the
section on "Environment, Parks, Recreation & Tourism."
- "Envirobiz"
(http://www.envirobiz.com/news.htm)
- A self-described "international environmental information network."
It is sponsored by Environmental Information, Ltd., a Minnesota-based
consulting service that specializes in providing research on the market
for environmental services and technology. This site includes news articles
and press releases from a wide range of sources.
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