Gov. Kathy Hochul’s recently enacted budget bill for 2025-2026 includes several important changes to the New York State Superfund program.
The Superfund was created to help enforce state hazardous waste regulations and to investigate and remediate contaminated sites. Overall, the amendments clarify the program and strengthen the state’s ability to enforce hazardous waste laws.
Separately, New York’s Navigation Law regulates petroleum discharges and imposes strict liability on petroleum dischargers. This means any person who discharges petroleum, regardless of fault, is liable for all cleanup and removal costs and all direct and indirect damages. Typically, after an oil spill occurs, the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (NYSDEC) sends a liability letter to the property owner where the spill occurred and other potentially liable parties, directing them to remediate the spill. If potential dischargers can’t be identified or they can’t or won’t pay for cleanup costs, then the state retains their own contractors to clean up the spill. Once remediation is complete, the state then pursues reimbursement of cleanup costs from responsible and potentially responsible parties.
One way the NYSDEC has historically recovered costs incurred at oil spill sites is by placing environmental liens on the property of responsible parties, an avenue made available to them under the Navigation Law. The 2025-2026 budget bill has now expanded on this approach by allowing the NYSDEC to file environmental liens to recover for costs incurred at Superfund sites as well as oil spill sites.
An environmental lien attaches when response costs are incurred by the state and/or a judicial judgment of liability for natural resource damages is entered, the responsible party fails to pay such costs within 90 days after a written demand is mailed or after entry of judgment, and a notice of environmental lien is filed by the NYSDEC.
This represents an expansion of NYSDEC’s power as they can now file liens on a responsible party’s real and personal property to recover cleanup costs from Superfund sites and oil spill sites. However, the reach of this authority may be limited as this power applies only to real property in New York that is 1) owned by a person liable to the state for response costs at the time of the lien notice and 2) upon which the disposal of hazardous waste occurred.
With these changes, New York reaffirms its commitment to protecting the environment and holding parties responsible for hazardous waste accountable.