New York DEC Official: Still No Timetable on Hydraulic Fracturing Decision
On September 6, 2013, the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation’s Deputy Commissioner for Administration told a legislative committee there is no timeframe for a decision on whether to lift a state moratorium on hydraulic fracturing. In testimony before the State Assembly Environmental Conservation Committee, Anne Reynolds said that the DEC is in the midst of reviewing more than 100,000 public comments submitted on the agency’s 2011 draft environmental review of hydraulic fracturing in the Marcellus Shale. Reynolds also told the committee that she did not have any information on the status of the state Department of Health’s review of the public health effects of hydraulic fracturing, which Governor Cuomo has said must be completed before a decision on whether to lift the moratorium is made.