Assembly Bill A5974A

                            
                    S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
________________________________________________________________________

                                 5974--A

                       2013-2014 Regular Sessions

                          I N  A S S E M B L Y

                             March 12, 2013
                               ___________

Introduced  by M. of A. ENGLEBRIGHT, MILLMAN, ROBERTS, DINOWITZ, MILLER,
  PAULIN, JAFFEE, COLTON, TITONE, CAHILL, MARKEY, WEISENBERG,  KAVANAGH,
  LIFTON,  SCHIMEL  -- Multi-Sponsored by -- M. of A. ABINANTI, BRENNAN,
  GLICK, GOTTFRIED, JACOBS, PERRY, ROSENTHAL, THIELE --  read  once  and
  referred to the Committee on Environmental Conservation -- recommitted
  to  the  Committee  on  Environmental  Conservation in accordance with
  Assembly Rule 3, sec. 2 -- committee discharged, bill amended, ordered
  reprinted as amended and recommitted to said committee

AN ACT to enact the "look before you leap act of 2014" relating  to  the
  imposition  of a 5 year moratorium on high volume hydraulic fracturing
  for the purpose of  conducting  an  investigation  of  the  effect  of
  hydraulic fracturing

  THE  PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND ASSEM-
BLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:

  Section 1. Short title. This act shall be known and may  be  cited  as
the "look before you leap act of 2014."
  S  2.  Legislative  findings.  The  legislature  hereby finds that the
drilling method, known as high-volume  hydraulic  fracturing  or  hydro-
fracking,  carries significant environmental risks that impact land, air
and water resources.
  The legislature further  finds  that  the  natural  gas  industry  has
exemptions  or  exclusions from key parts of at least seven of the major
federal environmental laws designed to protect air and water from radio-
active and hazardous chemicals  including:  the  national  Environmental
Policy  Act;  the  Clean Air Act; the Clean Water Act; the Safe Drinking
Water Act; the Resource Conservation and  Recovery  Act;  the  Superfund
Act; and the Emergency Planning and Community Right to Know Act.
  S  3.  (a)  There  is  hereby  established  a 5 year moratorium on the
conducting of high volume hydraulic fracturing in this state to  provide
an opportunity for the state to learn from the hydrofracking experiences
of other states, which is necessitated by the exemptions, granted to the

 EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                      [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                           LBD09684-03-4
              

A. 5974--A                          2

natural  gas  industry, from major federal laws protecting our air, land
and water from radioactive and toxic wastes, and to make a comprehensive
and cumulative examination of the environmental impacts associated  with
the  recent  rapid  expansion of hydrofracking across the United States,
with particular emphasis on the natural  gas  boom  that  began  in  the
neighboring state of Pennsylvania 3 years ago, and information therefrom
shall  be available to the public concerning these cumulative impacts to
our nation's air, land and water resources.
  (b) The state university of New York  university  centers  at  Albany,
Binghamton, Buffalo and Stony Brook shall in cooperation with each other
conduct  an  investigation  into  the  practice of high volume hydraulic
fracturing in conformance with subdivision (a) of this  section.  On  or
before  the  fifth  year  following the effective date of this act, such
university centers shall jointly issue a report of  their  findings  and
recommendations  as a result of the investigations conducted pursuant to
this section. Such report  shall  be  submitted  to  the  governor,  the
commissioner  of  environmental  conservation  and  the legislature, and
shall be published and made available to the public.
  S 4. This act shall take effect immediately.