New York Delays Fracking Report

Scott Detrow

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Scott Detrow is a congressional correspondent for NPR. He also co-hosts the NPR Politics Podcast.

Detrow joined NPR in 2015 to cover the presidential election. He focused on the Republican side of the 2016 race, spending time on the campaign trail with Donald Trump, and also reported on the election's technology and data angles.

Detrow worked as a statehouse reporter for member stations WITF in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, and KQED in San Francisco, California. He has also covered energy policy for NPR's StateImpact project, where his reports on Pennsylvania's hydraulic fracturing boom won a DuPont-Columbia and national Edward R. Murrow Award in 2013.

October 28, 2011 | 2:10 PM

We’re a little late with this, but here’s more information about New York State’s decision to delay a report on new hydraulic fracturing regulations, until early next year.
From the New York Times’ “Green” blog:

The panel’s report had been due next Tuesday. But members say that state agencies like the health and transportation departments are having a tough time coming up with budget figures by then that the panel will need to figure out what resources are needed to monitor the drilling operations, known as horizontal hydraulic fracturing or fracking..
The panel is now expected to work through February before producing its recommendations.

New York State’s Department of Environmental Conservation is in the midst of finishing an environmental assessment and rules to govern the controversial drilling process, which involves injecting water and chemicals into rock deep underground under high pressure to extract natural gas.
The proposed drilling has raised broad concern about potential environmental and health risks, including the possibility of groundwater contamination.
The department’s commissioner, Joe Martens, has long said that he expects drilling permits to be issued next year under the new regulations.