Assembly Bill A6579

2015-2016 Legislative Session

Imposes a moratorium on high-volume hydraulic fracturing and horizontal drilling for natural gas until every aquifer in the state is mapped and classified

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Sponsored By

Archive: Last Bill Status - In Assembly Committee

  • Introduced
    • In Committee Assembly
    • In Committee Senate
    • On Floor Calendar Assembly
    • On Floor Calendar Senate
    • Passed Assembly
    • Passed Senate
  • Delivered to Governor
  • Signed By Governor

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2015-A6579 (ACTIVE) - Details

Current Committee:
Assembly Environmental Conservation
Law Section:
Environmental Conservation
Versions Introduced in Other Legislative Sessions:
2013-2014: A5132
2017-2018: A5164
2019-2020: A3561

2015-A6579 (ACTIVE) - Summary

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.

2015-A6579 (ACTIVE) - Bill Text download pdf 

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

                                  6579

                       2015-2016 Regular Sessions

                          I N  A S S E M B L Y

                             March 27, 2015
                               ___________

Introduced  by  M.  of  A.  ENGLEBRIGHT,  COLTON,  DINOWITZ,  BENEDETTO,
  O'DONNELL, LAVINE, ROSENTHAL, GOTTFRIED, GALEF, COOK, JAFFEE, SCHIMEL,
  ROBERTS, CAHILL, MILLER -- Multi-Sponsored by --  M.  of  A.  BRENNAN,
  GLICK,  LENTOL, STECK, THIELE -- read once and referred to the Commit-
  tee 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:

  Section 1. a. Notwithstanding any provision of law  to  the  contrary,
there  is  hereby  established  a  moratorium upon high-volume hydraulic
fracturing and horizontal drilling for the purpose of extracting natural
gas in the state until such time as every aquifer in the state is mapped
at a scale of 1:24,000 and classified by the  United  States  Geological
Survey and/or the New York State Geological Survey.
  b. For the purposes of this act, the following terms shall mean:
  (i)  "High-volume  hydraulic  fracturing" shall mean the fracturing of
rock by man-made, pressurized, fluid-driven  fracturing  techniques  for
the purpose of stimulating natural gas or oil well production.
  (ii)  "Horizontal drilling" shall mean a vertical well which is curved
at depth to drill horizontally into natural gas-bearing rock.
  (iii) "Aquifer" shall  mean  an  underground  layer  of  water-bearing
permeable  rock or unconsolidated material such as gravel, sand or silt,
from which groundwater can be extracted.
  c. Notwithstanding any other provision of  this  act,  the  moratorium
established  by  subdivision  a  of  this section shall not be rescinded
until the department of environmental conservation:
  (i) receives and adopts the aquifer maps and classifications; and
  (ii) proposes and adopts requirements, procedures and regulations that
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.
                                                           LBD06091-01-5

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