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
________________________________________________________________________
9075--A
IN SENATE
January 29, 2026
___________
Introduced by Sens. GONZALEZ, COMRIE, MAY, SALAZAR -- read twice and
ordered printed, and when printed to be committed to the Committee on
Energy and Telecommunications -- committee discharged, bill amended,
ordered reprinted as amended and recommitted to said committee
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. This act shall be known and may be cited as the "mapping
2 for affordable planning (MAP) act".
3 § 2. The public service law is amended by adding a new section 77-a to
4 read as follows:
5 § 77-a. Mapping and decommissioning leak-prone gas infrastructure. 1.
6 Legislative intent. It is the intent of the legislature to support long-
7 term emissions reductions by facilitating the mapping and decommission-
8 ing of leak-prone gas pipes. The repair and replacement of aging and
9 leak-prone pipes by gas corporations will result in a burgeoning, unaf-
10 fordable cost to ratepayers over the next several decades and does not
11 serve the emissions reductions goals of the state. Avoiding investments
12 in new, dangerous, unhealthy, unaffordable, and long-lived gas infras-
13 tructure where alternative renewable sources of energy may instead be
14 installed will result in savings to gas ratepayers, decreased costly
15 energy demand at peak periods, increased local resilience, reduced risk
16 to customers and the environment, reduced imports of resources from
17 outside New York state, and reduced risk to shareholders for cost recov-
18 ery on stranded assets. A long-term planning process is necessary to
19 evaluate zero-emission alternatives that could help avoid new capital
20 investment in the gas system, which may become stranded, and to reduce
21 upward pressure on gas rates. Cost-effective, affordable, zero-emission
22 alternatives to pipeline and other gas infrastructure replacement and
23 renewal projects could reduce gas system costs, ease energy load at
24 periods of high demand, improve system resiliency, and further New
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD14547-02-6
S. 9075--A 2
1 York's efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and improve local and
2 regional air quality.
3 2. (a) Each gas corporation shall, within one year of the effective
4 date of this section and annually thereafter, file with the department a
5 machine-readable Geographic Information System ("map" or "maps") detail-
6 ing the location of all current and planned or foreseeable gas distrib-
7 ution line replacement, repair, renewal and retirement projects. Such
8 map shall include, but not be limited to:
9 (i) the city, county, and census tract boundaries of such gas corpo-
10 ration's service area;
11 (ii) the location of all terminal branches and radial ends of such gas
12 corporation's systems;
13 (iii) the utilities' current schedule for planned replacement, repair,
14 renewal and retirement of distribution lines;
15 (iv) the neighborhoods served by the gas infrastructure in question at
16 a granularity of one hundred fifty foot increments; and
17 (v) any other information deemed useful by the commission in further-
18 ance of integrated resource planning procedures.
19 (b) Such maps filed pursuant to this subdivision shall include metada-
20 ta about when the map was created, last updated, for what purpose, and
21 by whom. The commission shall publish such unredacted, legible maps and
22 any schedules filed with such maps on the commission's website and such
23 maps, schedules, and associated documents, including appendices, exhib-
24 its, and cover letters, shall be deemed public record for the purposes
25 of article six of the public officers law.
26 3. (a) The commission, after a ninety-day public comment period, shall
27 designate at least five neighborhoods as neighborhood priority decarbon-
28 ization zones in each gas corporation service area in which planned line
29 replacement, repair, renewal and retirement projects may feasibly be
30 avoided. In making such designations, the commission shall prioritize
31 neighborhoods, without limitation, that:
32 (i) are located in disadvantaged communities, as defined in section
33 75-0101 of the environmental conservation law;
34 (ii) have existing sources of pollution;
35 (iii) are expected to have the greatest reduction in estimated green-
36 house gas emissions as a result of such line repair, renewal, and
37 retirement project;
38 (iv) have elevated asthma rates and other chronic respiratory condi-
39 tions among children and adults;
40 (v) have existing or planned private, municipal, and regulated inve-
41 stor-owned utility, or other thermal energy network projects;
42 (vi) have planned load growth as a result of any and all municipal
43 land use changes and agricultural, transportation, commercial, housing,
44 or industrial development;
45 (vii) include thermal energy resources including waste heat; and
46 (viii) have gas infrastructure that is soon scheduled for retirement,
47 decommissioning, replacement, renewal, repair, upgrade, or other mainte-
48 nance activity which substantially renews local non-gas infrastructure.
49 (b) Such priority decarbonization zones shall be designated within
50 eighteen months of the effective date of this section and shall be
51 reviewed and updated annually thereafter.
52 4. The commission shall, within thirty days of posting the maps and
53 information required by subdivision two of this section, notify the
54 department of environmental conservation in writing of the availability
55 of such maps and information. Such notification shall include direct
56 links to the posted maps, the location of disadvantaged communities as
S. 9075--A 3
1 defined in section 75-0101 of the environmental conservation law, leak-
2 prone infrastructure segments, planned distribution line replacement,
3 repair, renewal, and retirement projects, estimated greenhouse gas emis-
4 sions associated with such line replacement, and any neighborhood prior-
5 ity decarbonization zones designated pursuant to subdivision three of
6 this section. The commission shall provide additional notification and
7 updated information to the department of environmental conservation
8 within thirty days of any material updates to such maps or the desig-
9 nation of additional neighborhood priority decarbonization zones.
10 § 3. This act shall take effect immediately.
