S3333-2013 Actions

• Feb 1, 2013: REFERRED TO ENVIRONMENTAL CONSERVATION

S3333-2013 Memo

BILL NUMBER:S3333

TITLE OF BILL:  An act to amend the environmental conservation law, in
relation  to prohibiting the use of flowback water from oil or natural
gas wells, pools or fields on any highway

PURPOSE:  This bill would prohibit  waste  water  from  hydrofracking,
which  contains  a  variety  of chemical and radioactive contaminants,
from being used on highways for purposes such as melting ice.

SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:  The bill prohibits flowback water from oil and
gas wells, pools, or fields, i.e., the waste water from  hydrofracking
operations,  from  being  used  on  highways.  Section one of the bill
amends  Environmental  Conservation  Law  ("ECL")   section   23-0303,
subdivision 8, to add the prohibition against use of flowback water on
highways, and specifically refers to the Transportation Law definition
of  highway, to ensure that all public roads are included. Section two
is the effective date, which is 160 days after enactment.

JUSTIFICATION:  In addition to the many concerns about the  safety  of
the  process  itself  and  hydrofracking's  effect  on groundwater and
watersheds, which are the  subject  of  other  legislative  proposals,
moratoriums   and  administrative  and/or  legislative  oversight  and
regulation, a separate concern about possible reuse of the  wastewater
is  addressed  by  this  bill.  The production of oil and natural gas,
especially the hydraulic fracturing process to  extract  natural  gas,
generally  referred  to  as hydrofracking, generates wastewater with a
variety  of   contaminants,   including   endocrine   disruptors   and
radioactive materials. At least in part because the wastewater is very
salty,  it  is used in some communities to de-ice roads in the winter,
as well as  for  other  purposes,  like  suppressing  dust,  in  other
seasons.

Toxic,  hazardous, and radioactive fracking waste from oil and natural
gas drilling can potentially cause irreversible damage to water,  air,
land  and  food supplies. Although this waste is hazardous and in fact
exceeds the legal criteria for hazardous waste classification,  it  is
categorized  as  "industrial" under federal and state laws as a result
Of special exemptions  given  to  the  oil  and  gas  industry.  These
exemptions  eliminate tracking requirements for its handling, storage,
treatment and disposal of the waste. As such the waste can be used for
many purposes such as road deicer or to suppress dust.

Spreading radioactive fracking waste on  roads  will  expose  drivers,
passengers,   and   pedestrians,   to   dangerous   pollutants   while
contaminating  nearby  surface  waters,  residential   areas,   school
properties  and farmland. Radioactive particles may become airborne as
trucks and passenger vehicles travel along roads. These events provide
opportunity for.human and livestock inhalation and ingestion of highly
radioactive materials and other contaminants.

Unfortunately, these uses also result in runoff that  ran  contaminate
the  ground  water.  This  bill  therefore  would  prohibit the use of
wastewater from hydrofracking on public roads in New York.

LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:  New bill.


FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:  None.

LOCAL FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:  None.

EFFECTIVE  DATE:  This act shall take effect 180 days after becoming a
law.

S3333-2013 Text

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

                                    3333

                         2013-2014 Regular Sessions

                              I N  SENATE

                              February 1, 2013
                                 ___________

  Introduced  by  Sen.  GIPSON -- read twice and ordered printed, and when
    printed to be committed to the Committee on Environmental Conservation

  AN ACT to amend the  environmental  conservation  law,  in  relation  to
    prohibiting  the  use of flowback water from oil or natural gas wells,
    pools or fields on any highway

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


    Section  1.   Section 23-0305 of the environmental conservation law is
  amended by adding a new subdivision 15 to read as follows:

    15. THE DEPARTMENT SHALL PROHIBIT THE USE OF FLOWBACK WATER  FROM  OIL
  OR  NATURAL  GAS  WELLS,  POOLS  OR FIELDS ON ANY HIGHWAY, AS DEFINED IN
  SUBDIVISION FOURTEEN OF SECTION TWO OF THE TRANSPORTATION LAW,  FOR  ANY
  PURPOSE, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO USE FOR DE-ICING, DUST SUPPRESSION
  OR ANY OTHER USE.
    S 2. This act shall take effect on the one hundred eightieth day after
  it shall have become a law.






   EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                        [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                             LBD01676-02-3