Senate Bill S6772

                                BILL NUMBER:S6772

TITLE OF BILL:
An act
to require a health impacts assessment for horizontal gas drilling and
high-volume hydraulic fracturing; and imposing a moratorium on such
activities pending adoption and implementation of the final health
impacts assessment; and providing for the repeal of such provisions upon
the expiration thereof

PURPOSE OR GENERAL IDEA OF THE BILL:
The purpose of this legislation
is to properly inform the people of the State of New York of any
and all potential public health impacts posed by horizontal gas
drilling and high-volume hydraulic fracturing and their related
activities. Such analysis and information shall serve as a tool for
the people and their representatives to make informed decisions
regarding actions to be taken with respect to horizontal gas drilling
and high volume hydraulic fracturing activities in the state.

SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:
Section 1 of the bill sets forth the legislative findings of the bill
as described above.

Section 2 of the bill requires that a School of Public Health within
the State University of New York ("School of Public Health") shall
              

conduct a comprehensive Health Impacts Assessment following a model
recommended by the United States Centers For Disease Control and
Prevention and the National Academy of Sciences to examine potential
public health impacts that could be caused by horizontal gas drilling
and high-volume hydraulic fracturing and related activities conducted
in connection with such drilling.

Section 3 of the bill requires that prior to the commencement of
research, the School of Public Health shall prepare a scoping
document that will establish the scope of assessments to be made by
the Health Impacts Assessment. The scoping document shall include the
required analyses contained in this act as well as any other potential
analyses to be conducted, and shall be subject to public review,
comment and revision;

Section 4 of the bill requires that such Health Impacts Assessment
shall include, at a minimum, the following analyses:

a) Identification and assessment of potential localized and statewide
health impacts from horizontal gas drilling and high-volume hydraulic
fracturing, extraction and related activities in the state;

b) Identification and assessment of potential health impacts
determining the magnitude, nature, extent and likelihood of potential
health impacts utilizing multiple methods and information derived

from a combination of public health tools including risk assessment,
literature, population analysis and expert opinions from multiple
sources;

c) Identification and assessment of potential health impacts as they
relate to environmental justice concerns;

d) Estimated costs of any health impacts from horizontal drilling and
related activities to the State, local governments, health insurers,
employers and the State's public and private health care systems as
a whole;

e) Recommendations for any mitigation of potential health impacts and
the methods and evidence used to arrive at such recommendations,
which may include potential recommendations against any or all
drilling activities; and

f) A long-term plan for monitoring,
evaluation, follow-up and mitigation of potential health impacts
throughout the period that horizontal drilling would take place in
the state if such activity is to be recommended.

Section 5 of the bill requires that a draft of the Health Impacts
Assessment directed under section two of this act shall be released
to the public for review and comment. The School of Public Health
shall conduct a minimum of two public hearings regarding the
findings or the draft Health Impacts Assessment and allow at least
one hundred eighty days for the public to submit comments to the
School of Public Health. Upon the closing of the public comment
period, the School of Public Health shall categorize, review and
respond to all public comments. If substantive changes to the
Health Impacts Assessment are made as a result of public comments,
the School of Public Health shall issue a supplemental draft. Such
supplemental draft shall similarly be subject to public comment and
review, in compliance with the parameters set out for the initial
draft.

Section 6 of the bill requires that upon completion of response to
public comments on the final draft, the School of Public Health shall
submit the Final Health Impacts Assessment to the New York State
Department of Health. The Department of Health shall adopt the Final
Health Impacts Assessment, which shall be available to the public
and copy delivered to each house of the Legislature and the
Governor.

Section 7 of the bill mandates that no horizontal gas drilling or
high-volume hydraulic fracturing shall be conducted in the State,
and the State shall issue no permits for extraction of oil or
natural gas using the process of horizontal drilling or high-volume
hydraulic fracturing, prior to the adoption of the Final Health
Impacts Assessment by the Department of Health, as required by
section six of this act, and the State has in all material respects

implemented the recommendations made by such Final Health Impacts
Assessment.

Section 8 of the bill sets forth an immediate effective date and
shall expire and be deemed repealed on the one hundred twentieth
day after adoption by the department of health of the final health
impacts assessment; provided that, the commissioner of the
department of health shall notify the legislative bill drafting
commission upon the adoption of the final health impacts assessment
in order that such commission may maintain an accurate and timely
effective data base of the official text of the laws of the state of
New York in furtherance of effectuating the provisions of
section 44 of the legislative law and section 70-b of the public
officers law.

JUSTIFICATION:
As the Governor and the Department of Environmental Conservation
("DEC") continue to deliberate on allowing the practice of horizontal
gas drilling and high-volume hydraulic fracturing in New York
State, it is imperative that a comprehensive Health Impact
Assessment be completed prior to any final decision.

Unfortunately, the Revised Draft SGEIS has failed to address any
adverse health effects as a result of hydrofacking.  It is a glaring
irresponsible omission for the State to fail to include this
analysis
in its decision to allow this industry to take place in New York. This
is especially true given recent and well documented news reports
from Pennsylvania that raise serious concerns regarding the
potential for very serious health effects on humans and animals that
live in close proximity to these hydrofracking wells,

A call for a Health Impacts Assessment is being made by thousands
of health care professionals across the state of New York and in a
recent letter to Governor Cuomo and state legislative leaders,
doctors from across the state relayed their increasing concerns about
the health impacts of hydraulic fracturing which include a range of
illnesses from "loss of smell, memory problems and headaches to a
number of serious respiratory illnesses and cancers that have
been associated with high-volume, slick water, horizontal hydraulic
fracturing." The New York State Nurses Association has weighed in
as well and points to other states, including Pennsylvania and
Wyoming where groundwater has become contaminated with synthetic
chemicals, some of which are known to cause genetic abnormalities
and stillbirths."

It is the State government's fundamental responsibility to refrain
from permitting this industry until, at the very least, a
comprehensive analysis has been completed on the health effects of
hydrofracking.

LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:

New Bill.

FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:
To be determined.

EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect immediately and shall expire and be
deemed repealed on the one hundred twentieth day after
adoption by the department of health impacts assessment;
provided that, the commissioner of the department of health shall
notify the legislative bill drafting commission upon the adoption
of the final health impacts assessment in order that such
commission may maintain an accurate and timely effective data base
of the official text of the laws of the state of New York in
furtherance of effectuating the provisions of section 44 of the
legislative law and section 70-b of the public officers law.