BILL NUMBER:S883

TITLE OF BILL:  An act to amend the environmental conservation law, in
relation to prohibiting the use of hydraulic fracturing and the
disposal and/or processing of any fluid which was used in a hydraulic
fracturing process

PURPOSE OR GENERAL IDEA OF THE BILL:  The purpose of this legislation
is to prohibit the use of hydraulic fracturing in the process of
drilling for natural gas and/or oil and to prohibit the disposal
and/or processing of hydrofracking fluids and drill cuttings.

SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:

Section 1 of the bill amends paragraph b of subdivision 1 of section
23-0501 of the environmental conservation law by adding a new
subparagraph 4 which defines "Hydraulic Fracturing" to mean
"fracturing of rock by man-made fluid-driven fracturing techniques for
the purpose of stimulating natural gas or oil well production".

Section 2 of the bill amends section 23-0305 of the environmental
conservation law by adding a new subdivision 15 to prohibit the
Department of Environmental Conservation from issuing any permit for
the drilling or operation of any well proposing to use hydraulic
fracturing or hydraulic fracturing fluids for the extraction of gas
and/or oil.
              

Section 3 of the bill amends subdivision 3 of section 23-0501 of the
environmental conservation law by renumbering it to subdivision 4 of
section 23-0501 and adds a new subdivision 3, paragraph a, to prohibit
the Department of Environmental Conservation from issuing any permit
for the drilling or operation of any well proposing to use hydraulic
fracturing or hydraulic fracturing fluids for the extraction of gas
and/or oil; and. paragraph b that defines hydraulic fracturing as the
fracturing of rock by man-made fluid-driven fracturing techniques for
the purpose of stimulating natural gas or oil well production.

Section 4 of the bill amends the environmental conservation law by
adding a new section 17-0513 to prohibit the acceptance, disposal
and/or processing of any fluid (including drill cuttings) used in a
hydraulic fracturing process. Drilling fluids include drilling mud,
chemical additives contained in or added to drilling fluids during
hydraulic fracturing process, flow back water and any other residual
liquids. Drill cuttings include solid products removed from the well
bore during an oil or gas well drilling operation.

Section 5 sets an immediate effective date.

JUSTIFICATION:  As the price of oil continues its meteoric rise due to
demand and regional instability in oil producing nations, the cry for
fuel alternatives including natural gas gets louder. In addition, the
need for job creation becomes more imperative as New Yorkers try to
recover from the economic crises of recent years and the state
attempts to balance an out of control budget. Each of these mounting
concerns compels the State to utilize its large natural gas reserves
to alleviate these problems. Unfortunately, in our haste to find an
expedient and viable solution to these issues the State could easily


create a situation where we put our citizens at grave risk of harm
from an environmental disaster by expanding the use of hydraulic
fracturing methods of extracting natural gas and oil.

The extraction of natural gas and oil reserves using hydraulic
fracturing presents significant risk to the environment. This method
of natural gas and oil extraction utilizes water combined with
multiple chemical additives, some of which are toxic and have been
shown to be associated with public health risks such as cancer and
developmental delays. Unfortunately many companies involved in
drilling have been resistant to revealing which chemicals are
contained in their fracturing fluids, making it difficult for
communities to assess their risk due to drilling operations. There are
also additional chemical contamination risks posed by transportation
of chemicals to drilling sites and the storage of the millions of
gallons of used fluids that are produced through the drilling process.

Most importantly, a large proportion of the state's drinking water
supplies come from areas located above the Utica and Marcellus Shale
geological formations where much of the state's natural gas reserves
exist. Use of hydraulic fracturing to extract these reserves
inherently creates a tremendous risk of contamination to the State's
drinking water supply and in turn risk of a significant public health
crisis affecting millions of people both upstate and downstate.

Moreover, communities located above the Utica and Marcellus Shales
would be further burdened by the construction of new roads to
accommodate drilling sites, increased traffic, and potential decreases
in air quality due to emissions from drilling operations.

In addition, the state currently allows hydrofracking waste products,
including drill cuttings (pulverized rock) and drilling fluid, to be
dumped in our landfills, spread on our fields and roads and "treated"
in waste treatment facilities that are not necessarily equipped to
properly treat such materials. Much of this hydrofracking waste
includes low-level radioactive waste such as Ra-226 which is a known
carcinogen and is especially dangerous if inhaled or ingested. It is
not a stretch of the imagination to see that these waste products
could very easily find their way into local ground water directly
exposing people by ingestion of the water or by inhaling dust that
comes from local landfills or from roads and fields where it has been
spread.

A significant amount of this hydrofracking waste is being imported
from outside New York, primarily from neighboring Pennsylvania.
Trucks cross New York State borders on a daily basis carrying this
highly dangerous waste into our state and place many of our citizens
at great risk.

The risk of catastrophic danger to the environment, especially the
state's drinking water supplies, as a result hydraulic fracturing far
outweighs the potential for job creation and promotion of a natural
gas alternative to oil. Therefore, the both the practice of hydraulic
fracturing and the disposal and/or processing of hydrofracking fluids
and drill cuttings should be banned throughout New York State.

LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:  2011-12: S.4220-B/A.7218-B (Colton)


FISCAL IMPLICATIONS: Yet to be determined.

EFFECTIVE DATE:  This act shall take effect immediately.