Requires gas corporations to file maps with the public service commission annually to assess leak-prone gas infrastructure and the decommissioning of such leak-prone gas lines; requires the public service commission to publish such maps and certain accompanying documents on the commission's website; directs the public service commission to designate neighborhood priority decarbonization zones.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
10071
IN ASSEMBLY
January 30, 2026
___________
Introduced by M. of A. GALLAGHER -- read once and referred to the
Committee on Energy
AN ACT to amend the public service law, in relation to requiring gas
corporations to file maps with the public service commission detailing
the location of current and planned gas distribution line replacement,
repair, renewal and retirement projects
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. The public service law is amended by adding a new section
2 77-a to read as follows:
3 § 77-a. Mapping and decommissioning leak-prone gas infrastructure. 1.
4 Legislative intent. It is the intent of the legislature to support long-
5 term emissions reductions by facilitating the mapping and decommission-
6 ing of leak-prone gas pipes. The repair and replacement of aging and
7 leak-prone pipes by gas corporations will result in a burgeoning, unaf-
8 fordable cost to ratepayers over the next several decades and does not
9 serve the emissions reductions goals of the state. Avoiding investments
10 in new, dangerous, unhealthy, unaffordable, and long-lived gas infras-
11 tructure where alternative renewable sources of energy may instead be
12 installed will result in savings to gas ratepayers, decreased costly
13 energy demand at peak periods, increased local resilience, reduced risk
14 to customers and the environment, reduced imports of resources from
15 outside New York state, and reduced risk to shareholders for cost recov-
16 ery on stranded assets. A long-term planning process is necessary to
17 evaluate zero-emission alternatives that could help avoid new capital
18 investment in the gas system, which may become stranded, and to reduce
19 upward pressure on gas rates. Cost-effective, affordable, zero-emission
20 alternatives to pipeline and other gas infrastructure replacement and
21 renewal projects could reduce gas system costs, ease energy load at
22 periods of high demand, improve system resiliency, and further New
23 York's efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and improve local and
24 regional air quality.
25 2. (a) Within one year of the effective date of this section and annu-
26 ally thereafter, each gas corporation shall file with the commission a
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD14547-01-6
A. 10071 2
1 map detailing the location of all current and planned or foreseeable gas
2 distribution line replacement, repair, renewal and retirement projects.
3 Such map shall include, but not be limited to:
4 (i) the city, county, and census tract boundaries of such gas corpo-
5 ration's service area;
6 (ii) the locations of disadvantaged communities, as defined in section
7 75-0101 of the environmental conservation law, overlapping with such
8 service area or line replacement projects;
9 (iii) the location of all terminal branches and radial ends of such
10 gas corporation's systems, indicating which are the easiest to decommis-
11 sion without affecting the functioning of the system or the service
12 delivered to downstream customers;
13 (iv) the gas corporation's current schedule for planned replacement,
14 repair, renewal and retirement of distribution lines; and
15 (v) any other information required by the commission for purposes of
16 integrated resource planning procedures.
17 (b) Maps filed pursuant to this subdivision shall include metadata
18 about when the map was created, last updated, for what purpose, and by
19 whom. The commission shall publish such maps and any schedules filed
20 with such maps on the commission's website and such maps, schedules, and
21 associated documents, including appendices, exhibits, and cover letters,
22 shall be deemed public record for the purposes of article six of the
23 public officers law. At minimum, the commission shall publish unredact-
24 ed, legible maps showing the neighborhoods downstream of the gas infras-
25 tructure in question at a granularity of two hundred fifty foot incre-
26 ments.
27 3. Maps filed pursuant to subdivision two of this section shall be
28 available to communities, municipalities, and state agencies in order to
29 enable electrification, decarbonization, and strategic demand reductions
30 to be coordinated with planned decommissioning or other integrated
31 resource planning initiatives, including state and local economic devel-
32 opment efforts, planned development, housing production, or other agri-
33 cultural, commercial and industrial development.
34 4. (a) The commission, after providing for and hearing public comment,
35 shall designate all relevant neighborhoods as neighborhood priority
36 decarbonization zones. In making such designations, the commission shall
37 consider, without limitation: (i) the location of disadvantaged communi-
38 ties, as defined in section 75-0101 of the environmental conservation
39 law; (ii) the location of line replacement, repair, renewal, and retire-
40 ment projects identified by gas corporations pursuant to subdivision two
41 of this section; (iii) existing sources of pollution in such zone; (iv)
42 estimated greenhouse gas emissions associated with such line replacement
43 projects; (v) asthma rates and other chronic respiratory conditions
44 among children and adults in such zones; (vi) and the location of exist-
45 ing or planned private, municipal, and regulated investor-owned utility,
46 or other thermal energy network projects, as provided for by section
47 sixty-six-t of this article; (vii) planned load growth as a result of
48 any and all municipal land use changes and agricultural, transportation,
49 commercial, housing, or industrial development; and (viii) the presence
50 and location of any and all thermal energy resources including waste
51 heat proximal to the zone.
52 (b) The goal of the commission in designating neighborhood priority
53 decarbonization zones pursuant to this subdivision shall be to identify
54 areas in each gas corporation's service area in which planned line
55 replacement, repair, renewal and retirement projects may feasibly be
56 avoided. The commission shall rank the zones by urgency and the remain-
A. 10071 3
1 ing length of time before the gas infrastructure in question is sched-
2 uled for retirement, decommissioning, replacement, renewal, repair,
3 upgrade, or other maintenance activity which substantially renews local
4 non-gas infrastructure.
5 § 2. This act shall take effect immediately.
