Press & Sun Bulletin

Walter Hang of the Ithaca-based environmental research firm Toxics Targeting discusses a letter to Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed by more than 600 people asking for clarification about the state’s rules regarding high-volume hydraulic fracturing.
(Photo: JOHN R. ROBY / STAFF PHOTO)

ALBANY — New York’s long-awaited decision on whether to allow hydraulic fracturing in the Marcellus Shale likely won’t come before April 2015, the state’s top environmental regulator said Monday.

Joseph Martens, the state environmental conservation commissioner, told reporters that it’s “extremely unlikely” any permits for high-volume fracking will be issued before the close of the state’s next fiscal year, which runs through March 31, 2015.

A Southern Tier assemblywoman is asking the state to put an immediate pause on the Health Department’s review of hydraulic fracturing, instead calling for a more-comprehensive analysis that is “transparent and thorough.”

In a letter this week to state Environmental Conservation Commissioner Joe Martens, Assemblywoman Donna Lupardo, D-Endwell, Broome County, knocked the state’s current review of fracking’s health impacts.