ALBANY – Future owners of property once used for authorized hazardous waste disposal cannot be compelled to finance future remediation efforts, an appellate panel in Albany has held in a first-impression environmental law decision.
In a unanimous opinion, the court rejected an attempt by state Department of Environmental Conservation to force a Syracuse company to post a bond ensuring the continued progress of a clean-up. Justice Leslie Stein (See Profile) said that while the DEC has broad authority to enact implementing regulations, it cannot expand on the plain reading of a statute.
