Terms Used In New York Laws > Navigation > Article 4 > Part 1 - Vessels, General

• Acid deposition: means the wet or dry deposition from the atmosphere of chemical compounds, usually in the form of rain or snow, having the potential to form an aqueous compound with a pH level lower than the level considered normal under natural conditions, or lower than 5. See N.Y. Environmental Conservation Law 19-0903
• Act: means the Federal Clean Air Act, 42 U. See N.Y. Environmental Conservation Law 19-0107
• Administrator: means the administrator of the United States environmental protection agency. See N.Y. Environmental Conservation Law 19-0107
• Advice and consent: Under the Constitution, presidential nominations for executive and judicial posts take effect only when confirmed by the Senate, and international treaties become effective only when the Senate approves them by a two-thirds vote.
• Affidavit: A written statement of facts confirmed by the oath of the party making it, before a notary or officer having authority to administer oaths.
• Air contaminant: means a dust, fume, gas, mist, odor, smoke, vapor, pollen, noise or any combination thereof. See N.Y. Environmental Conservation Law 19-0107
• Air contamination: means the presence in the outdoor atmosphere of one or more air contaminants which contribute or which are likely to contribute to a condition of air pollution. See N.Y. Environmental Conservation Law 19-0107
• Air contamination source: means any source at, from or by reason of which there is emitted into the atmosphere any air contaminant, regardless of who the person may be who owns or operates the building, premises or other property in, at or on which such source is located or the facility, equipment or other property by which the emission is caused or from which the emission comes. See N.Y. Environmental Conservation Law 19-0107
• Air pollution: means the presence in the outdoor atmosphere of one or more air contaminants in quantities, of characteristics and of a duration which are injurious to human, plant or animal life or to property or which unreasonably interfere with the comfortable enjoyment of life and property throughout the state or throughout such areas of the state as shall be affected thereby; excluding however all conditions subject to the requirements of the Labor Law and Industrial Code. See N.Y. Environmental Conservation Law 19-0107
• Amendment: A proposal to alter the text of a pending bill or other measure by striking out some of it, by inserting new language, or both. Before an amendment becomes part of the measure, thelegislature must agree to it.
• Amortization: Paying off a loan by regular installments.
• Answer: The formal written statement by a defendant responding to a civil complaint and setting forth the grounds for defense.
• Appeal: A request made after a trial, asking another court (usually the court of appeals) to decide whether the trial was conducted properly. To make such a request is "to appeal" or "to take an appeal." One who appeals is called the appellant.
• Appraisal: A determination of property value.
• Appropriation: The provision of funds, through an annual appropriations act or a permanent law, for federal agencies to make payments out of the Treasury for specified purposes. The formal federal spending process consists of two sequential steps: authorization
• Area of the state: means any county, city, town, village, or other geographical area of the state as may be designated by the department. See N.Y. Environmental Conservation Law 19-0107
• Arraignment: A proceeding in which an individual who is accused of committing a crime is brought into court, told of the charges, and asked to plead guilty or not guilty.
• Arrest: Taking physical custody of a person by lawful authority.
• Assets: (1) The property comprising the estate of a deceased person, or (2) the property in a trust account.
• Baseline: Projection of the receipts, outlays, and other budget amounts that would ensue in the future without any change in existing policy. Baseline projections are used to gauge the extent to which proposed legislation, if enacted into law, would alter current spending and revenue levels.
• Best available control technology: means an emission limitation or equipment standard based on the maximum degree of reduction which the department determines is achievable on a case-by-case basis taking into account energy, economic, environmental and health impacts and other costs related to the source. See N.Y. Environmental Conservation Law 19-0903
• Best management practices: means methods, measures or practices determined to be the most practical and effective in preventing or reducing the impact of pollutants generated by nonpoint sources to a level compatible with water quality standards established pursuant to section 17-0301 of this article. See N.Y. Environmental Conservation Law 17-1403
• Chambers: A judge's office.
• Clean alternative fuels: means fuels, for use in motor vehicles which meet the requirements of section 7511a(c)(4) of the Act. See N.Y. Environmental Conservation Law 19-0107
• Clean fuel vehicle: means a vehicle in a class or category of vehicles which has been certified to meet, for any model year, the clean fuel vehicle standards for clean fuel vehicles specified in this article pursuant to section 7583 of the Act. See N.Y. Environmental Conservation Law 19-0107
• Coal: means bituminous coal, anthracite coal or lignite. See N.Y. Environmental Conservation Law 19-0903
• Common law: The legal system that originated in England and is now in use in the United States. It is based on judicial decisions rather than legislative action.
• Complaint: A written statement by the plaintiff stating the wrongs allegedly committed by the defendant.
• Compost: means the biologically stable humus-like material derived from composting or the aerobic, thermophilic decomposition of organic matter. See N.Y. Environmental Conservation Law 17-2101
• Contract: A legal written agreement that becomes binding when signed.
• Conversion or modification: means any construction, reconstruction, addition to or alteration of any facility or stationary source or other physical changes to allow burning of coal as a boiler fuel. See N.Y. Environmental Conservation Law 19-0903
• Conviction: A judgement of guilt against a criminal defendant.
• Corporation: A legal entity owned by the holders of shares of stock that have been issued, and that can own, receive, and transfer property, and carry on business in its own name.
• Covered fleet: means ten or more motor vehicles which are owned or operated by a single person in an area designated as being a severe ozone non-attainment area by the administrator pursuant to Title I of the Act. See N.Y. Environmental Conservation Law 19-0107
• Cross examine: Questioning of a witness by the attorney for the other side.
• Damages: Money paid by defendants to successful plaintiffs in civil cases to compensate the plaintiffs for their injuries.
• Deed: The legal instrument used to transfer title in real property from one person to another.
• Defendant: In a civil suit, the person complained against; in a criminal case, the person accused of the crime.
• Dependent: A person dependent for support upon another.
• Deposition: An oral statement made before an officer authorized by law to administer oaths. Such statements are often taken to examine potential witnesses, to obtain discovery, or to be used later in trial.
• Devise: To gift property by will.
• Discovery: Lawyers' examination, before trial, of facts and documents in possession of the opponents to help the lawyers prepare for trial.
• District: means a county soil and water conservation district created pursuant to § 5 of the soil and water conservation districts law. See N.Y. Environmental Conservation Law 17-1403
• Emission: means the release of acid deposition precursors into the atmosphere from any facility or stationary source. See N.Y. Environmental Conservation Law 19-0903
• emission reduction credit: means the actual decrease in emissions of a regulated air contaminant in tons per year. See N.Y. Environmental Conservation Law 19-0107
• Environmental threshold value: means a deposition rate, expressed in kilograms of sulfate per hectare per year, at which no significant damaging chemical or biological effects of acid deposition have been reported, and above which there is high probability that such effects would occur. See N.Y. Environmental Conservation Law 19-0903
• Equitable: Pertaining to civil suits in "equity" rather than in "law." In English legal history, the courts of "law" could order the payment of damages and could afford no other remedy. See damages. A separate court of "equity" could order someone to do something or to cease to do something. See, e.g., injunction. In American jurisprudence, the federal courts have both legal and equitable power, but the distinction is still an important one. For example, a trial by jury is normally available in "law" cases but not in "equity" cases. ^{Source: U.S. Courts}
• Evidence: Information presented in testimony or in documents that is used to persuade the fact finder (judge or jury) to decide the case for one side or the other.
• Ex officio: Literally, by virtue of one's office.
• Executor: A male person named in a will to carry out the decedent
• Facility: means a single property or contiguous or adjacent properties used for a common purpose which are owned or operated by the same person on or in which are located:
  
  a. See N.Y. Environmental Conservation Law 17-1003
• facility: means a steam electric generating facility with a generating capacity of fifty thousand kilowatts or more which burns fossil fuel. See N.Y. Environmental Conservation Law 19-0903
• Fertilizer: means the same as "specialty fertilizer" as defined in § 143 of the agriculture and markets law. See N.Y. Environmental Conservation Law 17-2101
• Final control target: means a limitation, expressed in terms of fuel sulfur content or equivalent emissions reductions, that will reduce the New York state share of total measured or estimated wet sulfate deposition in sensitive receptor areas by the percentage derived according to the following formula:
  
  (Total measured or estimated New York's contribution to wet sulfate deposition) minus total measured or esti- (Environmental threshold value) mated wet sulfate deposition, X _______________________________ expressed as a percentage
  
  Total measured or estimated
  
  wet sulfate deposition
  
  9. See N.Y. Environmental Conservation Law 19-0903
• Fiscal year: The fiscal year is the accounting period for the government. For the federal government, this begins on October 1 and ends on September 30. The fiscal year is designated by the calendar year in which it ends; for example, fiscal year 2006 begins on October 1, 2005 and ends on September 30, 2006.
• Foreclosure: A legal process in which property that is collateral or security for a loan may be sold to help repay the loan when the loan is in default. ^{Source: OCC}
• Fossil fuel: means coal, petroleum products and fuel gases. See N.Y. Environmental Conservation Law 19-0903
• Fugitive emissions: means those emissions of regulated air contaminants which could not reasonably pass through a stack, chimney, vent or other functionally-equivalent openings. See N.Y. Environmental Conservation Law 19-0107
• Gift: A voluntary transfer or conveyance of property without consideration, or for less than full and adequate consideration based on fair market value.
• Guardian: A person legally empowered and charged with the duty of taking care of and managing the property of another person who because of age, intellect, or health, is incapable of managing his (her) own affairs.
• Injunction: An order of the court prohibiting (or compelling) the performance of a specific act to prevent irreparable damage or injury.
• Interest rate: The amount paid by a borrower to a lender in exchange for the use of the lender's money for a certain period of time. Interest is paid on loans or on debt instruments, such as notes or bonds, either at regular intervals or as part of a lump sum payment when the issue matures. ^{Source: OCC}
• Interim control target: means a limitation, expressed in terms of fuel sulfur content, that achieves a level of sulfur deposition reduction that is approximately forty per centum of the final control target. See N.Y. Environmental Conservation Law 19-0903
• Intestate: Dying without leaving a will.
• Jurisdiction: (1) The legal authority of a court to hear and decide a case. Concurrent jurisdiction exists when two courts have simultaneous responsibility for the same case. (2) The geographic area over which the court has authority to decide cases.
• leak: means any escape of petroleum from the ordinary containers employed in the normal course of storage, transfer, processing or use. See N.Y. Environmental Conservation Law 17-1003
• Lease: A contract transferring the use of property or occupancy of land, space, structures, or equipment in consideration of a payment (e.g., rent). ^{Source: OCC}
• Least emissions dispatch: means the utilization of the cleanest facility or other stationary source on a priority basis so that less clean facilities or stationary sources are operated at full capacity only when need arises. See N.Y. Environmental Conservation Law 19-0903
• Liabilities: The aggregate of all debts and other legal obligations of a particular person or legal entity.
• Lien: A claim against real or personal property in satisfaction of a debt.
• Litigation: A case, controversy, or lawsuit. Participants (plaintiffs and defendants) in lawsuits are called litigants.
• Major industrial grouping: means all activities belonging to the same major group identified in the Standard Industrial Classification Manual (1987) published by the United States department of commerce. See N.Y. Environmental Conservation Law 19-0107
• major stationary source: means any stationary source or any group of stationary sources located within a contiguous area and under common control and belonging to a single major industrial grouping that:
  
  a. See N.Y. Environmental Conservation Law 19-0107
• Minority leader: See Floor Leaders
• Mortgage: The written agreement pledging property to a creditor as collateral for a loan.
• Mortgagee: The person to whom property is mortgaged and who has loaned the money.
• Municipal corporation: means a county, city, town or village or an entity designated to act on behalf of such. See N.Y. Environmental Conservation Law 17-1403
• non-agricultural turf: means any non-crop land area that is covered by any grass species. See N.Y. Environmental Conservation Law 17-2101
• Nonpoint source: means any source of water pollution or pollutants which is not a discrete conveyance or point source permitted pursuant to title seven or eight of this article. See N.Y. Environmental Conservation Law 17-1403
• Oath: A promise to tell the truth.
• Obligation: An order placed, contract awarded, service received, or similar transaction during a given period that will require payments during the same or a future period.
• offset: means emission reductions or emission reduction credits which are required to be obtained by an air contamination source in order to obtain approval for a permit to construct a new air contamination source, or modify an existing air contamination source, in a non-attainment area pursuant to Title I of the Act. See N.Y. Environmental Conservation Law 19-0107
• Operating permit: means a permit issued pursuant to section 19-0311 of this article. See N.Y. Environmental Conservation Law 19-0107
• Operator: means any person who leases, operates, controls or supervises a facility. See N.Y. Environmental Conservation Law 17-1003
• Owner: means any person who has legal or equitable title to a facility. See N.Y. Environmental Conservation Law 17-1003
• Partnership: A voluntary contract between two or more persons to pool some or all of their assets into a business, with the agreement that there will be a proportional sharing of profits and losses.
• Person: means any individual, public or private corporation, political subdivision, agency, board, department or bureau of the state, municipality, partnership, association, firm, trust, estate or any other legal entity whatsoever which is recognized by law as the subject of rights and duties. See N.Y. Environmental Conservation Law 19-0107
• Personal property: All property that is not real property.
• Petroleum: means :
  
  a. See N.Y. Environmental Conservation Law 17-1003
• Petty offense: A federal misdemeanor punishable by six months or less in prison. ^{Source: U.S. Courts}
• Phosphorus fertilizer: means fertilizer in which the available phosphate (P205) content is greater than 0. See N.Y. Environmental Conservation Law 17-2101
• Plaintiff: The person who files the complaint in a civil lawsuit.
• Plea: In a criminal case, the defendant's statement pleading "guilty" or "not guilty" in answer to the charges, a declaration made in open court.
• political subdivision: as used in this Article , shall mean and include, in addition to its usual meaning, water districts, water supply districts, and any other public authorities, public corporations, commissions or bodies having power to own, acquire, or contract for a public water supply. See N.Y. Environmental Conservation Law 21-1701
• Potential to emit: means the maximum capacity of a stationary source to emit any regulated air contaminant under its physical and operational design. See N.Y. Environmental Conservation Law 19-0107
• Precedent: A court decision in an earlier case with facts and law similar to a dispute currently before a court. Precedent will ordinarily govern the decision of a later similar case, unless a party can show that it was wrongly decided or that it differed in some significant way.
• Public law: A public bill or joint resolution that has passed both chambers and been enacted into law. Public laws have general applicability nationwide.
• Quorum: The number of legislators that must be present to do business.
• Real property: Land, and all immovable fixtures erected on, growing on, or affixed to the land.
• Recourse: An arrangement in which a bank retains, in form or in substance, any credit risk directly or indirectly associated with an asset it has sold (in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles) that exceeds a pro rata share of the bank's claim on the asset. If a bank has no claim on an asset it has sold, then the retention of any credit risk is recourse. ^{Source: FDIC}
• Regulated air contaminant: means the following:
  
  a. See N.Y. Environmental Conservation Law 19-0107
• Remainder: An interest in property that takes effect in the future at a specified time or after the occurrence of some event, such as the death of a life tenant.
• Sensitive receptor areas: means regions of the state, encompassing geographically significant land areas not wholly contained within any county, that the department determines to be susceptible to the impacts of acid deposition based upon:
  
  a. See N.Y. Environmental Conservation Law 19-0903
• Service of process: The service of writs or summonses to the appropriate party.
• Special limitation: means a special fuel use limitation for a specific facility, stationary source, or specified area of the state promulgated by the department in rules and regulations that permits the sale, offering for sale, purchase and use of oil or coal with a sulfur content in excess of established sulfur limits, when acceptable diffusion analyses have demonstrated to the department's satisfaction that such use would not contribute to the contravention of any applicable federal ambient air quality standard nor significantly increase acid deposition at sensitive receptor areas. See N.Y. Environmental Conservation Law 19-0903
• Stationary source: means any building, structure, facility or installation that emits or may emit any regulated air contaminant. See N.Y. Environmental Conservation Law 19-0107
• Stationary source: means any source other than major steam electric generating facilities that emits acid deposition precursors in excess of one hundred tons per year. See N.Y. Environmental Conservation Law 19-0903
• Statute: A law passed by a legislature.
• Statute of limitations: A law that sets the time within which parties must take action to enforce their rights.
• Subpoena: A command to a witness to appear and give testimony.
• Summons: Another word for subpoena used by the criminal justice system.
• tank: includes all associated pipes, lines, fixtures and other ancillary equipment. See N.Y. Environmental Conservation Law 17-1003
• Testify: Answer questions in court.
• Testimony: Evidence presented orally by witnesses during trials or before grand juries.
• Tort: A civil wrong or breach of a duty to another person, as outlined by law. A very common tort is negligent operation of a motor vehicle that results in property damage and personal injury in an automobile accident.
• Transcript: A written, word-for-word record of what was said, either in a proceeding such as a trial or during some other conversation, as in a transcript of a hearing or oral deposition.
• Trial: A hearing that takes place when the defendant pleads "not guilty" and witnesses are required to come to court to give evidence.
• Trustee: A person or institution holding and administering property in trust.