S 5915: Requires that regular dredging of navigable waterways is scheduled in order to plan and finance to ensure the safe navigability and reliability of waterways in this state; requires a scheduled plan to be filed with DEC.

  
  STATE OF NEW YORK ________________________________________________________________________ 5915 2025-2026 Regular Sessions  IN SENATE March 4, 2025 ___________ Introduced by Sen. WEIK -- read twice and ordered printed, and when printed to be committed to the Committee on Environmental Conservation AN ACT to amend the environmental conservation law, in relation to sche- duled dredging of navigable waters The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem- bly, do enact as follows: 1 Section 1. This act may be referred to as the "Desludging Requirements 2 for Every Designated Geographic Environment Act" or the "DREDGE Act". 3 § 2. Legislative intent. The legislature finds and declares that the 4 maintenance of our navigable waterways is critical for public safety, 5 the environment, and the economy. Most experts agree that regular 6 dredging of navigable waterways ensures that each of these metrics are 7 maintained. The legislature further finds that, on average, most naviga- 8 ble waterways should be dredged every eight years, but without proper 9 planning at the federal, state and local level, those years can quickly 10 come up without the funding, resources, or a schedule in place. For 11 example, the Browns River in the Town of Islip has not been dredged in 12 nearly 17 years--more than double the recommended time dredging should 13 take place. This legislation is necessary to ensure that regular dredg- 14 ing is planned and financed to ensure the safe navigability and reli- 15 ability of our pristine waterways. 16 § 3. The environmental conservation law is amended by adding a new 17 section 15-0506 to read as follows: 18 § 15-0506. Regularly scheduled dredging of navigable waters in the 19 state. 20 1. The state and each municipality that has a navigable waterway with- 21 in its jurisdictional control and maintenance shall develop a schedule 22 for regular dredging of such waterway that shall be filed with the 23 department. Such schedule shall be updated at least annually and shall 24 be made available on the department's website. EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets [ ] is old law to be omitted. LBD04079-01-5 
 S. 5915 2 1 2. If a waterway is under the control of more than one level of 2 government, or requires more than one level of government to work 3 together to dredge the waterway, the respective levels of governments 4 and/or municipalities shall enter into an agreement as to each level of 5 government and/or municipality's respective responsibilities and an 6 agreed upon schedule for dredging the waterway. Such schedule shall be 7 updated at least annually and shall be made available on the depart- 8 ment's website. 9 3. If the waterway is a federal waterway that requires the state 10 and/or local municipalities to undertake preliminary or concurrent work, 11 including but not limited to, having an available spoil site, for the 12 federal government to begin or complete its work, the state and/or local 13 municipalities shall develop a schedule to complete such work. If more 14 than one level of government is required to undertake such work, the 15 respective levels of governments and/or municipalities shall enter into 16 an agreement as to each level of government and/or municipality's 17 respective responsibilities and an agreed upon schedule to do the work. 18 Such schedule shall be updated at least annually and shall be made 19 available on the department's website. 20 4. Nothing contained in this section shall impair, impede, or super- 21 sede any emergency work in such navigable waterway that must be 22 completed outside of the schedule filed with the department. 23 § 4. This act shall take effect immediately.