What's happening
This bill prohibits the state from authorizing new offshore oil and natural gas production in New York’s marine and coastal district.
Why it matters
Closes loopholes for offshore drilling. By specifically adding the “marine and coastal district” to areas where oil and gas exploration and production are prohibited, the bill ensures that state waters adjacent to New York’s coast—including those near sensitive marine environments—cannot be used for new fossil fuel extraction, even if federal policy shifts toward expanded offshore drilling.
Blocks state support for federal offshore projects. The bill forbids New York agencies from issuing new leases, renewals, extensions, or modifications that would allow any activity increasing oil or gas production from federal waters, cutting off key logistical and infrastructural support that federal offshore drilling operations often depend on from bordering states.
Defines and broadens what’s covered. The legislation clearly defines terms like “exploration,” “development,” and “production,” and specifically includes infrastructure expansions (like pipelines) within its prohibitions, making it harder for oil and gas companies to circumvent the intent of the law by upgrading existing facilities or using state territory to facilitate federal offshore drilling.
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Who cares
Headline styles
Ban Offshore Oil Drilling
Plain English, a few words. Used as the page title.
Sponsors
History
- Referred to environmental conservation
- Referred to environmental conservation
Full text
2 pagesUnderlined is new[Struck] is removedOfficial text on nysenate.gov ↗
STATE OF NEW YORK
84
2019-2020 Regular Sessions
IN SENATE (Prefiled)
January 9, 2019
Introduced by Sen. KAMINSKY -- 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 state authorizations related to certain offshore oil and natural gas production
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assembly, do enact as follows:
Section 1. Paragraphs a and b of subdivision 1 of section 23-1101 of the environmental conservation law, as added by chapter 722 of the laws of 1977, are amended to read as follows:
a. The exploration, development and production of gas in state-owned lands, except state park lands, the marine and coastal district as defined in section 13-0103 of this chapter, and the lands under the waters of Lake Ontario or along its shoreline; and
b. The exploration, development and production of oil in state-owned lands, except state park lands, the marine and coastal district as defined in section 13-0103 of this chapter, and the lands under the waters of Lake Erie and Lake Ontario or along their shorelines.
§ 2. The environmental conservation law is amended by adding a new section 23-1105 to read as follows: § 23-1105. Prohibition on state authorizations related to certain
offshore oil and natural gas production.
1. Neither the department nor the office of general services shall enter into any new lease or other conveyance, lease renewal, extension or modification, that authorizes the exploration for, or the development and production of, oil or natural gas upon lands owned by the state in the marine and coastal district as defined in section 13-0103 of this chapter, that would result in the increase of oil or natural gas production from federal waters.
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[ ] is old law to be omitted.
LBD05554-01-9
S. 84 2
2. The department is authorized to establish such rules and regulations as it shall deem necessary to implement this section.
3. For the purposes of this section, the following terms have the following meanings:
a. "Development" means those activities taking place following the discovery of oil and natural gas, including geophysical activity, drilling, platform construction, pipeline construction, and operation of all onshore support facilities that are performed for the purposes of ultimately producing the resources discovered.
b. "Exploration" means the process of searching for oil and natural gas, including any drilling whether on or off known geological structures, including the drilling of a well in which a discovery of oil or natural gas is made and the drilling of any additional delineation well after the discovery that is needed to delineate any reservoir and a lessee to determine whether to proceed with development and production.
c. "Federal waters" means those waters and submerged lands lying seaward to the state waters of New York that appertain to the United States and are subject to federal jurisdiction and control.
d. "New or additional exploration, development, or production of oil or natural gas" includes any activity undertaken to increase the capacity of any pipeline or other infrastructure used to convey oil or natural gas from federal waters.
e. "Production" means those activities that take place after the successful completion of any means for the removal of oil and natural gas, including that removal, field operations, transfer or resources to shore, operation, monitoring, maintenance, and workover drilling. "Producing" means undertaking those activities.
§ 3. Severability clause. If any clause, sentence, paragraph, subdivision, section or part of this act shall be adjudged by any court of competent jurisdiction to be invalid, such judgment shall not affect, impair, on invalidate the remainder thereof, but shall be confined in its operation to the clause, sentence, paragraph, subdivision, section or part thereof directly involved in the controversy in which such judgement shall have been rendered. It is hereby declared to be in the intent of the legislature that this act would have been enacted even if such invalid provisions had not been included herein.
§ 4. This act shall take effect immediately.
Reflowed for reading: line numbers and page breaks removed. Cite the official text.
Sponsor's memo
Title of bill
An act to amend the environmental conservation law, in relation to prohibiting state authorizations related to certain offshore oil and natural gas production
Purpose
To prohibit oil and natural gas drilling in New York's coastal areas.
Summary of provisions
This bill would amend environmental conservation law section 23-1101 to prohibit the leasing of state-owned underwater coastal lands for oil and natural gas drilling and also add a new section 23-1105 to prevent the Department of Environmental Conservation and the Office of General Services from authorizing leases that would result in the increase of oil or natural gas production from federal waters.
Justification
In a Presidential Executive Order issued on April 28, 2017, President Trump announced an "America-First Offshore Energy Strategy". The imple- mentation of this Executive Order included the United States Department of the Interior's (DOI) January 4, 2018 announcement regarding plans for the expansion of natural gas and oil drilling, and the release of the "2019-2024 National Outer Continental Shelf Oil and Gas Leasing Draft proposed Program", by the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM). The federal proposed offshore drilling expansion includes the potential lease of acreage in federal offshore areas such as the approximately 270 million acre Atlantic Region. The Atlantic Region, which extends north to Canada, east to the territorial waters of the Bahamas, and south to the territorial waters of Cuba, is divided into four planning areas - North Atlantic (which includes New York), Mid-Atlantic, South Atlantic, and Straits of Florida. The BOEM proposal includes a total of nine lease sales in the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) of the Atlantic Region, with two potentially taking place in the North Atlantic area that includes New York.
Drilling off New York's Atlantic Coast has been off limits for decades and as a result, some of the State's law regulating oil and natural gas drilling have not kept pace. This legislation would remedy that over- sight and prohibit the use of the State's underwater lands for drilling. Such a prohibition is in keeping with New York's coastal management practices and also protects endangered and threatened species such as the North Atlantic right whale and the State's recreational and commer- cial fishing industries. In addition, this legislation, based in part on legislation from California, would prohibit DEC and OGS from providing leases that would result in the increase of oil or natural gas production from federal waters.
Legislative history
2018: S.8017 (LaValle)
Fiscal implications
None.
Effective date
Immediately.
Summaries, headlines and scores are AI-generated from the official bill text. How we score bills. Source: NYS Open Legislation.