Relates to permits and financial security for reclamation for mining on state-owned lands occurring below or beneath navigable waters; repealer

◆ The sponsor's argument

Why Lea Webb says this is needed

The Cayuga Salt Mine (CSM) has operated for more than five decades beneath Cayuga Lake in Lansing, NY in Tompkins County, where it operates on several thousand acres of land it leases from New York State. While the Mine Safety and Health Administration has been able to inspect the CSM operation for worker safety, the state Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) has not regularly inspected the mine for issues related to protecting the Cayuga Lake ecosystem. Now, after decades of mining by Cargill, Cayuga Lake is saltier than nearly all the other Finger Lakes. Further, due to continued mining and geological condi- tions, without intervention from the DEC to require an environmental review, the lake is at risk of becoming permanently more saline, with potential catastrophic effects on drinking water, the local economy and the ecosystem of the lake. NYS Public Lands Law authorizes the state Office of General Services (OGS) to grant the use of state-owned lands for mining purposes, includ- ing those lands found beneath lakes. Since the mid-1970s, OGS has provided consent orders to the CSM owner, Cargill, to allow for salt mining under Cayuga Lake. The most recent consent order in 2019 provided that Cargill would be able to provide notice to OGS and then extend the consent order for ten years. This was done without the performance of an environmental impact statement (EIS) or environmental quality review (SEQR) under the New York State Department of Environmental Conserva- tion. DEC is also responsible for providing additional permitting through the Mined Land Reclamation Law, that includes reclamation and closure requirements of mined lands. Past civil lawsuits challenging the contin- uance of mining permits by the DEC have been dismissed. The assertions made in these lawsuits centered on the lack of DEC oversight or the requirement of an EIS on the mine considering significant environmental issues with the Retsof Salt Mine in Livingston County, which, in 1994, collapsed and flooded, causing two sinkholes, significant subsidence damage, wells going dry, and the salinization of a freshwater aquifer. The geological similarities of these two mines have the communities surrounding Cayuga Lake and its watershed justifiably concerned about the significant environmental and ecological risks of mine collapse. Cayuga Lake and its watershed are the largest in the region spanning seven (7) counties, covering 860 square miles with more than 140 streams that flow into the lake. Cayuga Lake itself is surrounded by a multitude of communities and supports a tourist economy seeking the natural beauty of the lake and the opportunity to visit the many vineyards found along the Cayuga Lake Wine Trail. An accident within the salt mine below Cayu- ga Lake could have an immediate and severe impact, reducing the quality of the drinking water of about 100,000 residents and endangering the region's $3 billion, 60,000-employee food, wine and recreational tourism economy. Despite an EIS being fully warranted by the scope of the environmental risk posed by salt mining under a lake, the DEC has, for decades, not required the owners of Cayuga Salt Mine to cooperate with an EIS proc- ess, despite repeated requests to do so. This legislation would explicitly require an EIS for mining in state- owned land under navigable waterways where there has not been an EIS done in the preceding 20 years, as well as an updated reclamation plan along with appropriate financial security to ensure the communities relying on Cayuga Lake and its watershed are protected from potential halm.

This is the sponsor's own case for the bill, quoted from their memorandum. It is not Agora's description of what the bill does.