The legislature finds and declares that the lands, water and air of New York state constitute an irreplaceable resource upon which is founded the well-being of public health, economic vitality and the state's environment. These resources may be contaminated by releases of hazardous substances from active and abandoned storage facilities. Once these resources are contaminated, they cannot be completely restored to their original state and therefore, contamination of the resources must be prevented through improved safeguards in storage, handling and processing of hazardous substances.

The legislature finds and declares these releases to be a threat to the public health and welfare and hereby exercises the power of the state to prevent these releases from occurring through the establishment of a state regulatory program governing existing, new and abandoned facilities.