What's happening
This bill bans the use of wastewater from high-volume hydraulic fracturing for road dust control, de-icing, or land spreading in New York.
Why it matters
Protects public health and the environment. by preventing potentially toxic or radioactive wastewater from hydraulic fracturing—known to contain hazardous chemicals—from being spread on roads or land, which could contaminate soil, surface water, and groundwater.
Closes a regulatory loophole. While HVHF is already banned in New York, the use of its waste byproducts for purposes like de-icing or dust control has remained a legal gray area; this bill explicitly bans those practices.
Responds to growing concerns. about the long-term impacts of “beneficial reuse” of oil and gas wastes, signaling a shift toward more precautionary management of industrial byproducts.
May influence future policy. by establishing a precedent that could encourage other states to adopt similar prohibitions, especially as public scrutiny of fracking waste disposal practices increases.
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Who cares
Headline styles
Ban Fracking Wastewater on Roads
Plain English, a few words. Used as the page title.
Sponsors
History
- Referred to environmental conservation
- Referred to environmental conservation
Full text
1 pageUnderlined is new[Struck] is removedOfficial text on nysenate.gov ↗
STATE OF NEW YORK
1362
2025-2026 Regular Sessions
IN ASSEMBLY
January 9, 2025
Introduced by M. of A. ROSENTHAL, COLTON, R. CARROLL, STECK, LEVENBERG -- read once and referred to the Committee on Environmental Conservation
AN ACT to amend the environmental conservation law, in relation to prohibiting the use of wastewater for road and land spreading
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assembly, do enact as follows:
Section 1. Section 23-0101 of the environmental conservation law is amended by adding three new subdivisions 4-a, 7-a and 16-a to read as follows:
4-a. "Flowback fluid" means liquids produced during initial completion and cleanup of the well or cleanup of a well following refracture or work over of a well.
7-a. "High-volume hydraulic fracturing" or "HVHF" means hydraulic fracturing for natural gas extraction using greater than three hundred thousand gallons of water regardless of whether the well is vertical, directional or horizontal.
16-a. "Production brine" or "produced water" means liquids co-produced during oil and gas production.
§ 2. The environmental conservation law is amended by adding a new section 23-0315 to read as follows: § 23-0315. Wastewater for road and land spreading; prohibited.
Wastewater associated with the production of natural gas using highvolume hydraulic fracturing, including flowback fluid, production brine or produced water, shall not be used for the purpose of road spreading for dust control or de-icing or land spreading.
§ 3. This act shall take effect immediately.
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[ ] is old law to be omitted.
LBD03841-01-5
Reflowed for reading: line numbers and page breaks removed. Cite the official text.
Summaries, headlines and scores are AI-generated from the official bill text. How we score bills. Source: NYS Open Legislation.