NY Oil Spill Act (Navigation Law Art. 12)

N.Y. Navigation Law Article 12 (§§ 170–197)

New York's Oil Spill Act (Navigation Law Article 12, enacted 1977) prohibits the discharge of petroleum (§173) and imposes strict liability, without regard to fault, on any person who discharges petroleum—including owners and operators of property where a discharge occurs—for all cleanup and removal costs and all direct and indirect damages, no matter by whom sustained (§181). Where the responsible party is unknown, unwilling, or unable to pay, the State funds cleanup through the New York Environmental Protection and Spill Compensation Fund (§179) and may then recover its costs from the discharger via subrogation (§§187–188). A discharge must be reported to the NYS DEC State Spill Hotline no later than two hours after it occurs (§175).