Gov. Minner, Sen. McBride, Sec. DiPasquale propose strengthened public notification process for environmental releases and violations
Dover – Governor Ruth Ann Minner, State Senator David McBride and Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control Secretary Nicholas DiPasquale announced Sunday new “right-to-know” legislation, which would speed and expand public notification in the event of environmental violations.
The legislation will be introduced by Senator McBride this week. The bill has already garnered bipartisan support in both chambers of the General Assembly, with at least three sponsors in the House of Representatives and nine in the Senate so far.
“In the past year, Secretary DiPasquale and his agency have made great strides improving the public notification procedures on environmental violations,” Governor Minner said. “But it was clear through the hearings that Senator McBride led last spring and in what people have been telling me that more needed to be done. With Sen. McBride’s leadership and the full support of my administration, this legislation will greatly improve the information available on a facility’s environmental violations, and its history of complying with environmental permits and regulations. It is my hope that this initiative will help bring us a step closer to ensuring the safety of each Delawarean, starting with the air we breathe.”
Highlights of the bill include:
§ Requiring facilities that release pollutants (meaning either a non-permitted substance or an amount that exceeds state regulations) to report the release in an expedient manner to DNREC and for DNREC to post such information on its website. Within eight hours of the release, the facility will be required to report the release to the area legislators, and to any community group or individual that signs up to receive such notification.
§ Requiring DNREC to develop an Environmental Information System, available via the Internet, to include information on emissions, compliance history, violations and monitoring data about facilities and sites regulated by DNREC.
§ Allowing DNREC to examine a facility’s compliance history when it is seeking permits or approvals under stormwater management, oil pollution liability, wetlands, underground storage tanks, extremely hazardous substances, waste minimization and hazardous substance cleanup. Currently, DNREC can only examine an applicants’ compliance for air, water, coastal zone or subaqueous lands permits.
§ Increasing the administrative penalty limit from $10,000 to $25,000 per violation per day for companies determined to be chronic violators.
§ Establishing a Community Involvement Advisory Council, appointed by Gov. Minner, to advise DNREC on ways to further improve the way the agency interacts with communities to solve local environmental problems.
§ Establishing a Community Ombudsman within DNREC to serve as a liaison between the agency and communities.
“I've said repeatedly the public has an absolute right to know when the air they breathe, the water they drink or the ground they walk on has been compromised,” Senator McBride said. “The proposed changes to public notification procedures and the penalties involved for violating them sends a strong message to those who choose to ignore our requirements.”
“Clearly the public has expressed an interest in receiving more information about environmental situations that occur in their neighborhoods,” Secretary DiPasquale said. “This bill is designed to enhance the amount of information that gets communicated directly to the public.”
