Elmont Online

ALBANY -- State Environmental Conservation Commissioner Joe Martens raised doubts Tuesday that the state will be ready to issue permits next year for the controversial natural gas drilling technique known as hydrofracking.

Emerging from a meeting of the governor's advisory panel -- assembled to advise the state on how to organize staff and resources needed to oversee a likely drilling boom in the gas-rich Marcellus Shale -- Martens said the group will miss its planned Nov. 1 deadline for a report, likely by months.

Hydrofracking opponents on the panel welcomed the news as a sign the state is slowing efforts to have drilling commence next year, while an industry group said it remained optimistic. The controversial technique involves a high-pressure mix of chemicals, water and sand pumped deep underground to break up rocks and free trapped bubbles of natural gas.

Martens said the High-Volume Hydraulic Fracturing Advisory Panel still has no estimates on what resources will be needed by four major state agencies: Health, Transportation, Agriculture & Markets, and Public Service.

Without that information, as well as further details on how local governments might be impacted by gas drilling, the panel won't be able to meet the report deadline set by Gov. Andrew Cuomo when he appointed the group in July.

Such estimates also will be needed to help Cuomo to help craft his 2012-13 state budget, which will be released in February. The governor's budget relies on budget estimates that the agencies normally provide to his office in late fall.

"The panel will make its report sometime next year, but there is no firm timeline. ... Eventually the agencies will submit their information, but I can't tell you when," Martens said after the panel met behind closed doors for more than three hours at DEC headquarters in Albany.

Asked if a 2012 start to drilling is realistic, Martens said, "That is really hard to predict. There is lot of work left to do."

Marten's comments were praised by Eric Goldstein, a lawyer for the Natural Resources Defense Counsel and advisory panel member. His group has been concerned that the state, which this fall issued a proposed environmental road map and regulations for drilling, was rushing the process.

"This is a positive sign that the entire hydrofracking train will be traveling at a reasonable pace," Goldstein said. The panel, he added, rejected the idea of issuing partial reports -- one detailing what the state would require to effectively regulate drilling, and another describing how to assist local governments deal with impacts like increased road traffic.

The drilling industry respects "DEC's desire to thoroughly analyze all the needs of the various state agencies and counties and their commitment to 'getting it right,'" said Brad Gill, president of the Independent Oil & Gas Association of New York, which also sits on the panel. "We certainly hope that this doesn't delay the regulatory process, and we're still optimistic that drilling will occur in 2012."

Rob Moore, executive director of Environmental Advocates of New York and another panel member, said the lack of projected staffing needs by the four state agencies takes the gas drilling effort "out of the pressure cooker" of the budget process for the 2012-2013 fiscal year, which begins April 1. "We should not let the state budget process dictate the clock on this."

Asked about Marten's statement that it was difficult to predict whether drilling will happen next year, Moore said, "I think the commissioner is correct."

Moore noted that a socioeconomic impact study on gas drilling done for the DEC by the private consulting firm Ecology & Environment failed to include adequate information about potential local impacts from drilling, and instead focused solely on potential benefits.

Data on potential negative impacts was "not part of the original charge" made to the consultant by the DEC, Moore said. He said the panel needs this additional review before it can come up with its recommendations.

"Somebody has to get this done," Moore said.

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