By Thomas J. Prohaska
The Buffalo News
LOCKPORT, N.Y. — A proposed law requiring that firefighters be notified if oxygen tanks are used in a home is on hold after a Niagara County Legislature committee discussed it Wednesday.
Another proposed law, to impose a fee on truckers hauling hazardous waste into the county, was withdrawn after a legal opinion that the county lacks the authority to regulate the hauling.
The Community Safety and Security Committee tabled the oxygen tank law until July 7 for more legal research.
Issues include whether it would violate federal health privacy laws and whether fines ought to be included.
The proposal from the four Legislature Democrats would require distributors and retailers of home oxygen systems to inform local fire departments of the addresses where the systems are installed.
It was inspired by a fire in April in a Lockport mobile home park in which the resident had 17 oxygen tanks, some of which exploded.
Minority Leader Dennis F. Virtuoso, D-Niagara Falls, said he doesn’t think there would be any privacy violations.
“No names are being given. We don’t care who the patient is, just the address,” he said.
Assistant County Attorney John S. Sansone said his gut reaction is that the federal Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act would not be violated. But he said, “HIPAA is a very murky statute. I would like an opportunity to review it.”
Republican Legislator Peter E. Smolinski, a retired North Tonawanda assistant fire chief, continued to oppose the law.
“Quite frankly, you’re giving the firefighters a false sense of security,” he said, adding that any other kind of pressurized containers can become missiles.
“We’re trained to be aware of those,” said Legislator David E. Godfrey, R-Wilson, a veteran volunteer firefighter. “Any little thing we know that could save a life is worth all the paperwork and minutiae.”
Sansone warned that if the oxygen information were faulty, the county could face liability if the wrong address were entered and firefighters were hurt after entering a home thinking it didn’t have oxygen tanks when it actually did.
Or a homeowner — or his survivors — could sue if firefighters hesitated to enter a home thinking it had oxygen tanks when it really didn’t.
Meanwhile, a proposal to charge trucking companies $500 a year for a permit to haul hazardous waste to CWM Chemical Services in Porter was scrubbed.
Legislator Clyde L. Burmaster, R-Ransomville, said County Attorney Claude A. Joerg issued an opinion that the state Vehicle and Traffic Law and the federal Hazardous Materials Transportation Act leave the county with no authority over waste haulers.
Burmaster said he will convert his resolution to a request to the State Legislature for action against waste haulers.
Legislator Paul B. Wojtaszek, R-North Tonawanda, said the county could ask the state for special permission to impose a fee, since no other New York county has a licensed hazardous waste disposal site.
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