NEW YORK STATE ASSEMBLY MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT OF LEGISLATION submitted in accordance with Assembly Rule III, Sec 1(f)
 
BILL NUMBER: A8866
SPONSOR: Kelles
 
TITLE OF BILL:
An act to amend the environmental conservation law, in relation to
prohibiting well permits from being issued to an applicant that uses
carbon dioxide to complete or recomplete natural gas or oil resources
 
PURPOSE OR GENERAL IDEA OF BILL:
To ban the use of carbon dioxide in gas or oil extraction.
 
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:
Sec. 1 - amends paragraph (a) of subdivision 3 of section 23-0501 of the
environmental conservation law to prohibit the issuance of permits to
drill, deepen, plug back, or convert wells that use CO2 for purposes of
bringing a natural gas or oil well into production
Sec. 2 - effective date.
 
JUSTIFICATION:
The State's 2020-21 budget added subdivision 3a to ECL 23-0501 to
prohibit high volume hydraulic fracturing using water in oil and gas
mining because of the many dangers it poses to the environment and human
health. Since the fall of 2023, leases are being offered to landowners
in the Southern Tier of New York State to undertake injection of carbon
dioxide (CO2) into shale formations, with the intention to recover meth-
ane gas from the same Marcellus shale formation, with the intent to also
store some of the CO2 in the shale formation. Mining methane gas using
CO2 injection poses many of the same threats to our water, health, and
climate as hydraulic fracturing (a.k.a. fracking) as well as some addi-
tional ones.
People living near natural gas drilling operations experience higher
rates of a multitude of health impacts, including cardiovascular and
respiratory diseases, cancer, low birth weights, and premature death.
On top of this, the methane-containing shale formations in New York
contain naturally occurring radioactive substances that are brought to
the surface during the drilling process. Radioactive dust, at levels
that can cause health impacts, has been found in homes within 30 miles
downwind of drilling pads, and elevated levels of radium have been found
in sediments downstream from landfills in Pennsylvania, Ohio, and New
York State that had accepted fracking waste.
CO2 is itself very dangerous in high concentrations, and ruptured pipe-
lines transporting supercritical state CO2 (CO2 under higher pressure
and temperature that converts CO2 into a state that has both liquid and
gaseous properties) can result in asphyxiation. This was tragically
illustrated in Satartia, Mississippi on February 22, 2020 when a CO2
pipeline ruptured, leading to mass CO2 poisoning that left 45 people
hospitalized and impeded emergency vehicle response because the released
CO2 displaced the oxygen needed for the vehicles' combustion engines to
run. Some of the CO2 injected in the process of mining gas can return to
the surface along with the methane gas leading to a combination of CO2
and methane leakage. Additionally, not all of the CO2 that is success-
fully injected will remain in the geological formations because of vari-
ous fissures, fractures, and abandoned wells that offer pathways for
leakage. When exposed to moisture, CO2 converts to carbonic acid, a
compound that is highly corrosive, and can dissolve rock and cement used
around the full vertical length of the well casing, leaching heavy
metals from these materials, which can migrate and permanently contam-
inate underground aquifers, poisoning drinking water for millions of
people.
CO2 mining is unlikely to be a source of good jobs in the Southern Tier
region. Drilling workers are at risk for exposure to these radioactive
substances, as well as many other health and safety risks. According to
a recent report from AFL-CIO "Death on the Job: The Toll of Neglect",
the mining, quarrying and oil and gas extraction industry is the third
most dangerous industry among AFL-CIO members. A 2020 study showed that
retired oil and gas workers had the highest prevalence of self-reported
poor health of all industry categories of retirees. Independent economic
analyses show that the promise of job creation, especially in the
Marcellus Shale region of Appalachia, was greatly exaggerated, with most
of the fracking-related jobs going to out-of-area workers. Further,
during the height of the fracking boom the most intensely drilled coun-
ties in Appalachia typically experienced both net job loss and popu-
lation loss, and money that was expected to stay in the community was
spent elsewhere. A 2021 survey of nearly 17,000 energy-industry recrui-
ters, companies, and workers found that in the mining, quarrying and oil
and gas extraction field, applications per vacancy remained low, with 43
% of employees reporting a desire to leave the field altogether within
the next five years, 56 % of oil and gas workers reporting plans to
pursue employment in the renewables sector, and 31 % of recruiters iden-
tifying an aging, shrinking workforce as their biggest challenge.
Consistent with our state's ban on hydraulic fracturing, and in light of
the additional dangers identified above, this bill would ban the use of
carbon dioxide in gas or oil extraction.
 
PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
New bill
 
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS FOR STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENTS:
None
 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
Immediately
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
8866
IN ASSEMBLY
January 23, 2024
___________
Introduced by M. of A. KELLES -- read once and referred to the Committee
on Environmental Conservation
AN ACT to amend the environmental conservation law, in relation to
prohibiting well permits from being issued to an applicant that uses
carbon dioxide to complete or recomplete natural gas or oil resources
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Paragraph (a) of subdivision 3 of section 23-0501 of the
2 environmental conservation law, as added by section 1 of part WW of
3 chapter 58 of the laws of 2020, is amended to read as follows:
4 (a) No permits shall be issued authorizing an applicant to drill,
5 deepen, plug back, or convert wells that use high-volume hydraulic frac-
6 turing or carbon dioxide to complete or recomplete natural gas or oil
7 resources. For purposes of this section, high-volume hydraulic fractur-
8 ing shall be defined as the stimulation of a well using three hundred
9 thousand or more gallons of water as the base fluid for hydraulic frac-
10 turing for all stages in a well completion, regardless of whether the
11 well is vertical or directional, including horizontal.
12 § 2. This act shall take effect immediately.
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD13662-04-4