Bill Text: NY A03561 | 2019-2020 | General Assembly | Introduced
Bill Title: Imposes a moratorium on high-volume hydraulic fracturing and horizontal drilling for natural gas until every aquifer in the state is mapped and classified by the United States Geological Survey and/or the New York State Geological Survey, and the department of environmental conservation has adopted regulations to protect such aquifers.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 15-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2020-01-08 - referred to environmental conservation [A03561 Detail]
Download: New_York-2019-A03561-Introduced.html
STATE OF NEW YORK ________________________________________________________________________ 3561 2019-2020 Regular Sessions IN ASSEMBLY January 29, 2019 ___________ Introduced by M. of A. ENGLEBRIGHT, COLTON, DINOWITZ, BENEDETTO, O'DONNELL, L. ROSENTHAL, GOTTFRIED, GALEF, COOK, JAFFEE, CAHILL -- Multi-Sponsored by -- M. of A. GLICK, LENTOL, STECK, THIELE -- read once and referred to the Committee on Environmental Conservation AN ACT to establish a moratorium on high-volume hydraulic fracturing and horizontal drilling for natural gas until all aquifers are classified and mapped The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem- bly, do enact as follows: 1 Section 1. a. Notwithstanding any provision of law to the contrary, 2 there is hereby established a moratorium upon high-volume hydraulic 3 fracturing and horizontal drilling for the purpose of extracting natural 4 gas in the state until such time as every aquifer in the state is mapped 5 at a scale of 1:24,000 and classified by the United States Geological 6 Survey and/or the New York State Geological Survey. 7 b. For the purposes of this act, the following terms shall mean: 8 (i) "High-volume hydraulic fracturing" shall mean the fracturing of 9 rock by man-made, pressurized, fluid-driven fracturing techniques for 10 the purpose of stimulating natural gas or oil well production. 11 (ii) "Horizontal drilling" shall mean a vertical well which is curved 12 at depth to drill horizontally into natural gas-bearing rock. 13 (iii) "Aquifer" shall mean an underground layer of water-bearing 14 permeable rock or unconsolidated material such as gravel, sand or silt, 15 from which groundwater can be extracted. 16 c. Notwithstanding any other provision of this act, the moratorium 17 established by subdivision a of this section shall not be rescinded 18 until the department of environmental conservation: 19 (i) receives and adopts the aquifer maps and classifications; and 20 (ii) proposes and adopts requirements, procedures and regulations that 21 are protective of these aquifers including, but not limited to: EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets [] is old law to be omitted. LBD07631-01-9A. 3561 2 1 (A) drilling procedures that will prevent the escape of any drilling 2 fluids into an aquifer; 3 (B) continuous water testing of affected aquifers for contamination 4 that may result from drilling operations; 5 (C) recordkeeping of all water testing results; and 6 (D) plans for containment and remediation of any contamination caused 7 by drilling operations. 8 § 2. This act shall take effect immediately.