What's happening
This bill prohibits publicly owned treatment works from accepting wastewater from high-volume hydraulic fracturing unless they meet strict pollution controls.
Why it matters
Addresses concerns about water contamination. by targeting wastewater from high-volume hydraulic fracturing, which can contain hazardous chemicals and radioactive materials that are difficult for standard treatment plants to remove.
Raises the bar for pollution control. by only allowing exemptions for facilities that can achieve zero pollutant discharge, or, if that’s not feasible, that can meet the strictest possible reduction using best available technology.
Limits potential public health and environmental risks. by preventing untreated or inadequately treated fracking wastewater from entering water bodies via municipal treatment plants, which often discharge into rivers, lakes, or streams used for drinking water and recreation.
Creates a high regulatory hurdle for the oil and gas industry. by making it significantly harder to dispose of fracking wastewater in New York, potentially influencing drilling practices and waste management decisions within and beyond the state.
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Who cares
Headline styles
Ban Gas Wastewater Dumping
Plain English, a few words. Used as the page title.
Sponsors
No co-sponsors yet.
History
- Referred to energy and telecommunications
- Referred to energy and telecommunications
Companion bill
The same bill in the other chamber. A bill becomes law when one version passes both houses and the governor signs it, so either number can carry it.
Ban Fracking Wastewater Dumping
In Assembly Committee · Environmental Conservation · Sponsor Linda Rosenthal
Full text
1 pageUnderlined is new[Struck] is removedOfficial text on nysenate.gov ↗
STATE OF NEW YORK
2351
2019-2020 Regular Sessions
IN SENATE
January 24, 2019
Introduced by Sen. PARKER -- read twice and ordered printed, and when printed to be committed to the Committee on Energy and Telecommunications
AN ACT relating to wastewater treatment
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assembly, do enact as follows:
Section 1. Notwithstanding any contrary provision of law, no publicly owned treatment works shall accept wastewater associated with the exploration, delineation, development, or production of natural gas where high-volume hydraulic fracturing is utilized.
§ 2. A publicly owned treatment works may appeal to the department of environmental conservation division of water for an exemption from section one of this act if it can meet a standard of performance that shall permit no discharge of pollutants, or if not feasible, shall reflect the greatest degree of effluent reduction achievable through application of the best available demonstrated control technology, processes, operating methods, or other alternatives.
§ 3. For purposes of this act, "High-volume hydraulic fracturing" or "(HVHF)" means hydraulic fracturing for natural gas extraction using greater than 300,000 gallons of water regardless of whether the well is vertical, directional or horizontal.
§ 4. This act shall take effect immediately.
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[ ] is old law to be omitted.
LBD03230-01-9
Reflowed for reading: line numbers and page breaks removed. Cite the official text.
Sponsor's memo
Title of bill
An act relating to wastewater treatment
Purpose
To prohibit the use of wastewater from hydraulic fracking for road and land spreading.
Summary of provisions
Section 1 defines "flowback fluid,"" "high-volume hydraulic fracturing," and "production brine" or "produced water."
Section 2 prohibits the use of wastewater associated with high-volume hydraulic fracturing for the purpose of road and land spreading.
Section 3 provides the effective date.
Justification
Production brine, or produced water, contains high concentrations of salts that make it a useful agent for de-icing and dust control. Production brine, however, also has properties that raise public health concerns. The Department notes in the draft Supplemental Generic Envi- ronmental Impact Statement that production brine may contain elevated concentrations of naturally occurring radioactive materials (NORM), such as radium and its decay products. The Department further states that activities with the potential to concentrate NORM need to come under regulatory oversight to ensure adequate protection of workers, the public and the environment. Moreover, independent testing has identi- fied increased levels of hydrocarbons such as benzene in production brine from drilling operations in the Marcellus Shale.
In recognition of the potential health impacts from releasing production brine into the environment, this legislation will prohibit its use for road and land spreading. This legislation further prohibits the use of flowback water, which contains high concentrations of chemicals used in hydraulic fracturing, for these purposes as well.
Legislative history
2017-18 S.3908 REFERRED TO ENERGY AND TELECOMMUNICATIONS 2015-16 S.4314 Environmental Conservation/ A. 1043 Environmental Conser- vation 2013-14:S. 4656 Environmental Conservation / A. 9039 Environmental Conservation 2011-12:S. 6895 Finance / No Same As
Fiscal implications
None.
Effective date
This act shall take effect immediately.
Summaries, headlines and scores are AI-generated from the official bill text. How we score bills. Source: NYS Open Legislation.