Albany, NY – Following the Assembly’s passage of the legislation (A8866/ S8357) last week to ban drilling and fracking for natural gas and oil using carbon dioxide (CO2), the NYS Senate passed the bill today 45-17. Advocates applauded the Senate and, now that the full legislature has passed the bill, called on Governor Hochul to swiftly sign it into law. 

Alex Beauchamp, Northeast Region DIrector at Food & Water Watch, said:

“We applaud the Senate for moving swiftly to strengthen our statewide ban on fracking, and call on Governor Hochul to sign the Co2 fracking ban into law immediately. Fracking of any kind is counter to New York’s Climate Act, and a danger to a livable future. Fossil fuel profiteers who argue otherwise are only selling snake oil, in a last ditch attempt to profit off of climate chaos.”

The campaign for a ban has emerged and grown rapidly in response to news that the fossil fuel industry is pushing an experimental, dangerous new method of shale gas extraction. Since the fall of 2023, the gas industry (via a company called “Southern Tier CO2 to Clean Energy Solutions”) has been asking thousands of Southern Tier landowners to lease their land for gas extraction by injecting carbon dioxide into the Marcellus Shale formation. The Marcellus and Utica Shale formations underlie much of the state, and the industry may target the Southern Tier first as a starting point for more areas in the state. Currently, the state’s law banning fracking prohibits the use of high volumes of water to extract the gas. The industry aims to get around the state’s fracking ban by using CO2, but that technique poses many of the same threats to our water, health, and climate. 

Most of the same impacts associated with the entire drilling and fracking process apply whether water or CO2 is used, and scientific research overwhelmingly finds risks and harms associated with these approaches. After studying the health and environmental impacts for years, in 2014 New York State concluded that drilling and fracking pose significant risks to people’s health, air quality, drinking water, and the environment. Since then, hundreds more peer-reviewed studies further confirm and extend those findings. 

The use of CO2 to try to get around the state’s fracking ban does not avoid the dangers and harms associated with the process. For example, as countless scientific studies about drilling and fracking demonstrate, induced fractures are not controllable and could cause the CO2 in addition to heavy metals and naturally occurring radioactivity in the shale to migrate, threatening to contaminate our drinking water. Additionally, high pressure CO2 is itself very dangerous, and ruptured pipelines can result in asphyxiation and convulsions. This was tragically illustrated in Satartia, Mississippi in 2020 when a CO2 pipeline exploded, leading to mass CO2 poisoning that left 45 people hospitalized. Additionally, high pressure CO2 injection underground poses significant risk of earthquakes, corrosion of well casings, and acidification of groundwater.

Senator Lea Webb said, “We know that fracking proposes significant health and environmental problems that threaten our communities. Over a decade ago, our State historically led the nation and protected public health and the environment by banning high volume hydraulic fracking. And now, an out-of-state company wants to lease land from my constituents in Broome County to inject carbon dioxide into the shale. We must take action to combat the use of CO2 to prevent any erosion of the progress our state has made in preventing fracking. That is why I have introduced this piece of legislation with my colleagues Assemblymember Kelles, Assemblywoman Lupardo and Senator Krueger to strengthen our fracking laws by banning the use of CO2 before it causes damage to our health and environment.” 

Julia Walsh, Director of Frack Action, said, “Thanks to the New York Senate and Assembly for their tremendous leadership in passing the bill to ban carbon dioxide drilling and fracking, which is vital to protecting our drinking water, air, and climate. Thanks especially to the sponsors, Senator Webb and Assemblymember Kelles, for bringing forth this bill and getting it through the legislature. Now we call Governor Hochul to swiftly sign it into law.”

Actor and director Mark Ruffalo, a long-time environmental advocate in New York, said, “I’m so proud to be a New Yorker today as the NYS Legislature has now passed an important bill to close a loophole in the fracking ban law to include a prohibition on using carbon dioxide. We must stop this new experimental form of gas extraction from polluting our state. I urge Governor Hochul to quickly sign this vital legislation into law to protect our health and environment.”

“We know fracking wreaks havoc on our health and environment. That’s why, a decade ago, New York led the nation in banning high-volume hydraulic fracking. Now, to circumvent the law, the fossil fuel industry wants to use carbon dioxide to extract natural gas,” said Rich Schrader, Director, New York Government Affairs at NRDC (Natural Resources Defense Council). “Carbon dioxide fracking would pose the same threats to our climate, water, and health as hydraulic fracking — and the state legislature made the right choice to prohibit using carbon dioxide to drill and extract natural gas and oil.”

Acclaimed singer/songwriter Natalie Merchant said, “Thanks to the NYS Senate and Assembly, for their tremendous leadership in protecting our public health and environment by passing this bill to close the loophole in the fracking ban law to stop the dangerous proposal to drill and frack using carbon dioxide in New York State. Thanks especially to Majority Leader Stewart-Cousins, Senator Webb, and Senator Krueger for getting the bill through the senate, Assembly Speaker Heastie, Assemblymember Kelles, and Assemblymember Lupardo for getting it through the Assembly, and all the Senators and Assemblymembers who voted for this critical legislation. I urge Governor Hochul to sign the bill to ensure New Yorkers and our environment are protected.”

Ravo Root, a community organizer for Citizen Action of New York who is based in Binghamton, said, “Those of us who live in the Southern Tier say no thanks to CO2 fracking. We know what CO2 fracking means for our communities:damage to our precious land and water and health problems for local residents – all to provide a quick buck for an out of state company. We thank Assemblymember Kelles and Senator Webb for their tireless efforts to get this bill passed, and urge the Governor to sign this common sense climate measure into law.”

“CO2 Fracking (the proposal to use supercritical carbon dioxide – CO2 pressurized to enter a fluid state at certain temperatures) to extract gas in New York threatens the safety of lands and waters previously protected from similar subsurface hazards by both regulatory and legislative bans,” said Kathy Nolan, a physician and research director for Catskill Mountainkeeper. “This new legislation protects drinking water resources and prevents a false reliance on untested technologies as we work diligently to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The New York Assembly and Senate have seen the wisdom of adopting a far simpler and superior approach: now Governor Hochul must join them and sign this ban, keeping difficult to reach shale gas deposits sequestered safely underground.”

Biologist Sandra Steingraber, PhD, Concerned Health Professionals of New York, said, “The dispatch by which the New York Assembly and Senate outlawed the untested practice of CO2 fracking reflects the supreme idiocy of Southern Tier Solution’s plans for our state. Swapping in pressurized CO2 for water doesn’t make fracking any less dangerous. Indeed, liquified CO2 is a terrible poison that asphyxiates people and turns groundwater into acid. Our legislature has affirmed that there is zero reason to run this bad chemistry experiment in our Southern Tier counties. All eyes now turn to Governor Hochul for her signature. 

“We applaud the Senate for its expedient passage of this vital legislation,” said Joseph Campbell, President of Seneca Lake Guardian. “The legislature has agreed: giving the fossil fuel industry another bite of the apple on an untested, potentially dangerous form of extraction would be a grave mistake.  Now, we’re calling on Governor Hochul to sign the bill without delay.”

Roger Downs, Conservation Director for the Sierra Club Atlantic Chapter said, “The Sierra Club applauds Senator Webb  and the NYS Majority for their leadership in joining the NYS Assembly in passing a CO2 Fracking ban,  understanding that this latest gas extraction loophole will most certainly drain limited DEC resources and divert us from our nation leading climate goals unless we close it. It is now time for Governor Hochul to follow suit and protect New Yorkers from this ill-conceived plan that was not anticipated with the original fracking ban, but shares so many of the same disastrous environmental impacts.”

“Congratulations to the NYS Legislature for its wise decision to ban CO2 fracking,” said Doug Couchon, Co-Founder of People for a Healthy Environment. “This action, if signed into law by Governor Hochul, will prevent the dangerous and unsafe industrialization of New York’s Southern Tier by a Texas based corporation using an unproven method. Let’s let the Governor know we want her to sign this legislation”

“We are grateful to the Senate and Assembly for passing this key legislation, and for the leadership of Senator Webb and Assemblymember Kelles,” said Sophie Patka, Climate & Legislative Associate with Environmental Advocates NY. “The ball is now in the Governor’s court to quickly sign this into law and ban CO2 Fracking once and for all.”

Background:

View photos and video from the March 5 rally in the Capitol here: https://drive.google.com/drive/u/1/folders/1HVyx_IW9fXl5_Bw5_M6Q5URcYv61laq3 

More than 90 environmental, public health, and community organizations previously released a letter to Governor Hochul, Senate Majority Leader Stewart-Cousins, Speaker Heastie, and DEC Commissioner Seggos calling for a ban on CO2 fracking. In addition to the public health and environmental dangers, the proposed plan to transport waste CO2 to New York from other states, drill and inject high-pressure CO2 to release sequestered methane, and build new gas-fired power plants is reckless and would perpetuate reliance on fossil fuels. 

The organizations have noted that they are deeply concerned that the proposal would violate New York’s nation-leading climate law, the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act (CLCPA). Studies show that drilling and fracking operations and infrastructure are inherently leaky, releasing methane that is disastrous for the climate along with air pollutants that endanger public health. Drilling and fracking for fossil fuels, along with pipelines, gas plants, truck trips, and other infrastructure, is contradictory to the CLCPA.

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