Environmental, public health, and community leaders from across New York are thrilled that Governor Kathy Hochul signed into law the bill (A8866/ S8357) that bans drilling and fracking for natural gas and oil using carbon dioxide (CO2). The simple bill, which passed the legislature in March with bipartisan support, closes a loophole in the state’s existing water-based fracking ban to include a prohibition on the fossil fuel industry using carbon dioxide, which poses the same harms to public health and the environment, along with other dangers. 

The bill’s signing is a crucial victory in New York’s leadership protecting the environment and public health and addressing climate change by moving away from fossil fuels and toward cleaner, healthier energy. 

“This is a significant win for our region and state, protecting our environment, our water, and the health of our communities from the harmful and uncertain impacts of CO2 fracking,” said Senator Lea Webb. “I want to thank the advocates who have fought hard for this measure, Assemblymember Kelles, my Assembly and Senate partners, Senate Majority Leader Stewart Cousins and Governor Hochul for signing this into law, continuing our leadership in advancing New York’s sustainable and environmentally conscious policies.” 

Assemblywoman Anna Kelles said, “New York State wisely prohibited high-volume hydraulic fracturing in 2020, and I’m so proud to say once again the Assembly upheld science and fact to pass the legislation I had the honor to champion to ban the use of pressurized carbon dioxide for gas and oil extraction. No matter what substance is used to frack for gas and oil it is still fracking. It will still have severe negative health and environmental consequences only exacerbated by the use of a highly corrosive substance that is known to cause pipeline ruptures and destabilization through acidification and demineralization of the very ground under our feet. This bill is closing a loophole in our state’s fracking ban to protect our people, our environment, and our economy.”

Julia Walsh, Director of Frack Action, said, “Thank you to Governor Hochul for signing the ban on drilling and fracking with carbon dioxide. New Yorkers can breathe a sigh of relief today knowing that the loophole is closed and our state will remain frack free. Our thanks also to the legislature for passing the bill.”

Dr. Bart Schoenfeld, a cardiologist and member of Concerned Health Professionals of NY, said, “The gas industry’s plan to drill and frack using carbon dioxide was reckless and posed significant harm to New York’s health, environment, and climate. I applaud Governor Hochul for signing the bill that the legislature wisely passed, now permanently closing the loophole in New York’s fracking ban to protect our communities throughout the state.”

“Drilling and fracking are not safe,” noted Ramsay Adams, Executive Director of Catskill Mountainkeeper, “and Governor Hochul is protecting water, air, and people in New York by signing this law and preventing our exposure to a new and untested approach to these dangerous oil and gas activities.”

“In 2020, the legislature and the governor came together to codify New York’s historic fracking ban and close loopholes that the oil and gas industry sought to exploit. We are thrilled that Governor Huchul and the legislature have answered the call again to protect all New Yorkers from this latest fracking threat that will most certainly drain limited DEC resources and divert us from our nation leading climate goals,” said Roger Downs, Conservation Director for the Sierra Club Atlantic Chapter. “The ill-conceived process of CO2 fracking was not anticipated with the original fracking ban, but shares many of the same disastrous environmental impacts and now will be banned as well.”

Sandra Steingraber, PhD, co-founder, Concerned Health Professionals of New York, said, “Fracking New York’s bedrock with liquid CO2 poses the same climate public health harms as fracking with liquid water—and adds a few more. It’s great news, on the 10th anniversary of our state’s original ban on fracking, that our governor has closed this cynical loophole and protected us from a profoundly dangerous idea.”

Carmi Orenstein, MPH, Program Director of Concerned Health Professionals of New York:, said, “As coordinator and co-author of nine editions of the fracking science Compendium, as well as a longtime resident of the Southern Tier, I can breathe easier knowing that the Governor has stepped forward to protect public health from well-documented risks. We must stay focused on a clean energy path and not allow CO2 transport, drilling, and fracking to threaten our air, water, and soil.”

Eric Weltman, New York Senior Strategist and Organizer at Food & Water Watch, said, “While President-elect Trump embraces the destructive ‘drill baby, drill,’ mantra, Governor Hochul is strengthening New York’s decade old fracking ban. Carbon capture is the fossil fuel industry’s latest scam to profit off climate chaos — we are having none of it in New York. We applaud Senator Webb and Assemblymember Kelles for responding quickly to Southern Tier Solution’s threat to our water, health and environment, and we thank Governor Hochul for signing the CO2 fracking ban into law. Thanks to their leadership, and the power of New York’s anti-fracking movement, New York’s fracking ban is stronger than ever and ready for the next big fight. Governor Hochul is sending a clear message to fossil fuel scam artists: New York is closed for business to fracked gas.”

Eric Wood, Senior Environmental Campaign Coordinator at NYPIRG, said, “It is great to see our state leadership remain vigilant in blocking “creative loopholes” brought forth by the fossil fuel industry. New York State continues to lead the nation by stopping the fossil fuel industry’s attempts to put their corporate interests over New Yorker’s health and well-being. We thank Governor Hochul for signing the CO2 Fracking Ban bill, and Senator Webb and Assemblymember Kelles for leading the charge. NY must continue leading to have a real shot at staving off the impacts of climate destruction.”

Yvonne Taylor, Vice President of Seneca Lake Guardian said “New Yorkers fought hard to ban fracking, and we applaud Governor Hochul’s signing of the CO2 Fracking Ban today. We must take these bold steps, especially as we face the dismantling of environmental protections and replacing good government with an authoritarian-oriented administration. New York must continue to steer the way forward and we’re counting on Governor Hochul to take the helm. She has demonstrated her leadership with the signing of this ban.”

Tim Guinee of The Climate Reality Project, New York State Coalition said, “We congratulate and thank the governor for signing the CO2 fracking bill. Prohibiting well permits from being issued to an applicant that uses carbon dioxide to complete or recomplete natural gas or oil resources further protects New York residents from serious health problems and is consistent with New York’s ambitious decarbonization goals put forth in the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act (CLCPA).”

Valdi Weiderpass, Chair of Sierra Club Susquehanna Group said “Thank you to Assemblywoman Donna Lupardo and Senator Lea Webb for sending a letter back on November 20, 2023, asking the DEC some very concerning questions about CO2 fracking, a new process being proposed across the Southern Tier, by a company from Texas.  Dedicated environmental activists who have worked hard to research this new threat, organize to educate and call for a Ban on CO2 Fracking are grateful to Senator Lea Webb and Assemblymember Anna Kelles for championing legislation to Ban CO2 Fracking which passed in March 2024. We are thankful and encouraged that Governor Hochul is signing the CO2 Fracking Ban legislation into law and hope that this is the first of many steps to reconfirm New York will live up to the commitments of the 2019 Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act (CLCPA) to truly be a climate leader.” 

“Thank you to Governor Hochul for signing the legislation that bans fracking with CO2, and congratulations to Senator Webb and Assemblymember Kelles for pushing the bill through,” said Doug Couchon of People for a Healthy Environment. “New York State is safer with the new law in place, especially the people of the Southern Tier who were targeted for mass CO2 fracking industrialization and associated harms.”

Background and evidence of harm:

The campaign for a ban on drilling and fracking using CO2 emerged and grew rapidly in response to news that the fossil fuel industry is pushing an experimental, dangerous new method of shale gas extraction. Starting in the fall of 2023, the gas industry (via a company called “Southern Tier CO2 to Clean Energy Solutions”) asked 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. The state’s original law banning fracking prohibited the use of high volumes of water to extract the gas. The industry aimed to get around the state’s fracking ban by using CO2.

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, many 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.

In response to the threat, the New York State legislature moved swiftly to pass the bill to close the loophole in the state’s existing water-based fracking ban to include a prohibition on the use of carbon dioxide in place of water for drilling and fracking. The Assembly passed the bill with a bipartisan 98-50 vote on March 12 and the Senate passed it with a bipartisan 45-17 vote on March 20.