New York State Assembly

 
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A06949 Summary:

A06949 Actions:

A06949 Committee Votes:

Committee:ENVIRONMENTAL CONSERVATION   Chair:Glick      
DATE:05/16/2023AYE/NAY:29/0  Action: Favorable refer to committee Rules        
Glick
Aye
Simpson
Aye
Colton
Aye
Smullen
Aye
O'Donnell
Aye
Tague
Aye
Gunther
Aye
Manktelow
Aye
Thiele
Aye
Brown
Aye
Fahy
Aye
Durso
Aye
Otis
Aye
Lemondes
Aye
Williams
Aye
Giglio
Aye
Barrett
Aye
Flood
Aye
Carroll
Aye
Burke
Excused
Epstein
Aye
McMahon
Aye
Burdick
Aye
Lunsford
Aye
Kelles
Aye
Gonzalez-Rojas
Aye
Septimo
Aye
Lee
Aye
Levenberg
Aye
Simone
Aye

Committee:RULES   Chair:Pretlow      
DATE:05/17/2023AYE/NAY:29/0  Action: Favorable         
Heastie
Excused
Barclay
Aye
Weinstein
Aye
Hawley
Aye
Pretlow
Aye
Giglio
Aye
Cook
Aye
Blankenbush
Aye
Glick
Aye
Norris
Aye
Aubry
Aye
Ra
Aye
Dinowitz
Aye
Brabenec
Aye
Colton
Aye
Palmesano
Aye
Magnarelli
Aye
Reilly
Aye
Paulin
Aye
Peoples-Stokes
Aye
Benedetto
Aye
Lavine
Aye
Lupardo
Aye
Zebrowski
Aye
Thiele
Aye
Braunstein
Aye
Dickens
Excused
Davila
Aye
Hyndman
Aye
Rozic
Aye
Bronson
Aye

A06949 Floor Votes:

A06949 Text:

 
                STATE OF NEW YORK
        ________________________________________________________________________
 
                                          6949
 
                               2023-2024 Regular Sessions
 
                   IN ASSEMBLY
 
                                       May 9, 2023
                                       ___________
 
        Introduced  by M. of A. GLICK -- read once and referred to the Committee
          on Environmental Conservation
 
        AN ACT to amend the  environmental  conservation  law,  in  relation  to
          exempting  certain  geothermal boreholes at depths beyond five hundred
          feet from certain requirements

          The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and  Assem-
        bly, do enact as follows:
 
     1    Section 1. Legislative findings and declaration. The legislature here-
     2  by finds and declares that:
     3    1. The climate leadership and community protection act establishes the
     4  goal  of  reducing  statewide greenhouse gas emission levels by 40% from
     5  1990 levels by 2030 and 85% by the  year  2050  and  achieving  net-zero
     6  emissions  statewide  by  2050.  The  climate  leadership  and community
     7  protection act further created and tasked  the  climate  action  council
     8  with  developing  a  final  scoping  plan  outlining recommendations for
     9  attaining New York's statewide greenhouse gas emissions reduction goals.
    10    2. The climate action council's  final  scoping  plan  recognized  the
    11  electrification  of buildings - particularly through the installation of
    12  closed-loop geothermal heating and cooling systems - as a  key  strategy
    13  to achieve the widespread decarbonization of buildings that is necessary
    14  to achieve the climate leadership and community protection act goals.
    15    3.  The final scoping plan identifies that appropriate regulations and
    16  permit fees are not in place for geothermal boreholes deeper  than  five
    17  hundred  feet and should be developed by the department of environmental
    18  conservation.  Specifically,  the  department  applies  its  regulations
    19  developed  for  oil  and gas wells to geothermal wells greater than five
    20  hundred feet deep, even though closed-loop geothermal boreholes  do  not
    21  involve  injection  into  or  extraction from the ground and thus do not
    22  pose an impact adverse to the environment  comparable  to  oil  and  gas
    23  wells.    The department's existing regulations also apply on a per-well
    24  basis, thereby  adding  significant  cost  and  permitting  barriers  to
 
         EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                              [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                                   LBD10951-02-3
        A. 6949                             2
 
     1  ground-source   heat  pump  installations  and  thermal  energy  network
     2  projects that benefit from installing multiple boreholes  to  distribute
     3  heat.
     4    4.  Extension of the permitting rules currently applied to closed-loop
     5  geothermal systems less than  five  hundred  feet  deep  to  closed-loop
     6  geothermal  boreholes deeper than five hundred feet will reduce the cost
     7  of meeting New York state's  building  decarbonization  requirements  by
     8  nearly $9.9 billion by 2050; reduce the cost of meeting the state's goal
     9  of electrifying one million homes by 2030 by approximately $900 million;
    10  and reduce the cost of electrifying 85% of the state's building stock by
    11  approximately  $9  billion  between  2030  and 2050, in 2023 dollars. In
    12  nominal dollars, the total cost savings increase  to  $16.3  billion  by
    13  2050.
    14    5.  Extension of the permitting rules currently applied to closed-loop
    15  geothermal systems less than five hundred feet deep  to  such  boreholes
    16  deeper  than  five  hundred  feet will obviate unnecessary technical and
    17  permitting barriers, open new markets to clean heating and cooling tech-
    18  nologies in densely populated regions, and enable drastically  increased
    19  leverage   of  federal  funding  to  meet  New  York  state's  emissions
    20  reductions targets.
    21    § 2. The opening paragraph of subdivision 14 of section 23-0305 of the
    22  environmental conservation law, as added by chapter 410 of the  laws  of
    23  1987, is amended to read as follows:
    24    With  respect to wells drilled deeper than five hundred feet below the
    25  earth's surface for the purpose of conducting stratigraphic  tests,  for
    26  finding or producing hot water or steam, for injecting fluids to recover
    27  heat  from  the  surrounding geologic materials, which shall not include
    28  closed-loop boreholes installed for the purpose of facilitating a geoth-
    29  ermal heating or cooling system, or for  the  disposal  of  brines,  the
    30  department shall have the power to:
    31    § 3. This act shall take effect immediately.