As New Yorkers wait for the state to make a decision on whether or not to allow hydraulic fracturing, a state official has said that a decision on whether to allow the drilling will not be coming before April of 2015. State environmental conservation commissioner Joseph Martens deemed it “extremely unlikely” that any permits for high volume fracking would be issued before the close of the state’s next fiscal year, which runs through March of 2015. Martens said in a legislative budget hearing that the Department of Environmental Conservation has absolutely no plans to issue the permits. Governor Cuomo’s budget proposal for the next fiscal year includes no revenue from fracking, and it doesn’t include money for additional staff to oversee the gas industry. New York State has put a hold on fracking in the state since July of 2008, when the DEC launched an environmental reveiew meant to guide the permitting process. A moratorium for the entire state has been in place while landowners wait for the DEC to complete their review. Now the DEC is awaiting a separate analysis by the state’s Health Commissioner. That review was launched in the fall of 2012, and no indication has been given on when it will be completed.
