News Blog

The state Department of Environmental Conservation is making a move that should prevent it from having to redo its proposed high-volume hydraulic fracturing regulations.

The department faces a November 29 deadline for approving the proposed regulations, which it introduced in 2011. But the state is still conducting an environmental review of fracking in shale formations, and a health impacts review has just started. That review will be conducted by Health Commissioner Nirav Shah, with the assistance of a panel of experts.

The state was set to miss the deadline, so it is asking for a 90-day extension "to continue to work as Dr. Shah’s health review of the SGEIS comes to completion," department spokesperson Emily DeSantis said in an email.

Once revised draft regulations are issued, they'll be subject to a 30-day comment period, DeSantis says.