If you thought New York was done talking about fracking 12 years ago, think again.

A new experimental form of fracking that uses carbon dioxide rather than water to extract shale gas is being introduced to landowners in the Southern Tier.  

The idea of fracking has sparked a push-back reminiscent of the anti-fracking rallies of the early 2010s. It also prompted a bill to ban C02 fracking sponsored by state Assemblymember Anna Kelles and state Sen. Lea Webb.

While the bill has passed both houses of the Legislature, the governor has yet to sign it.

Back in January, Capital Tonight hosted Bryce Phillips, the president of Southern Tier CO2 to Clean Energy Solutions (aka Southern Tier Solutions). He was, at the time, in the process of asking landowners in Broome, Chemung and Tioga counties to lease over 100,000 acres to create test wells.

Phillips’ actions grabbed the attention of some of the same well-known activists who stopped hydrofracking in its tracks under former Gov. Andrew Cuomo, including Dr. Sandra Steingraber.

Steingraber is a retired scholar-in-residence at Ithaca College, co-founder of Concerned Health Professionals of New York, an internationally acclaimed authority on environmental toxicology, and the author of several books including "Living Downstream: An Ecologist’s Personal Investigation of Cancer and the Environment."

She told Capital Tonight that swapping CO2 for water doesn’t change how dangerous this kind of drilling is.

“Fracking with carbon dioxide substitutes one liquid for another, but all of the other risks that fracking poses to our climate, to our health, to our environment come with it,” Steingraber said.

The risks include earthquakes, radioactivity and the release of carcinogens including benzene and formaldehyde.

Additionally, Steingraber said that while water used in hydrofracking is benign, liquified CO2 which would be used in this new experimental kind of fracking is “terribly toxic."

“I’ll sleep better when I know Gov. Hochul has signed this bill,” she said.