New York Could Begin Issuing Fracking Permits Next Spring

Scott Detrow

Recent Stories

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.

December 2, 2011 | 4:49 PM

Getty Images

Anti-drilling activists crowded a recent DEC hearing on fracking regulations

The latest update on when New York State regulators will issue their fracking regulations comes from the Innovation Trail.The answer: sooner than many expected.
This is important because the regulations would open the door for natural gas drilling within New York. So far, the Empire State has placed a moratorium on the practice.

New York’s top environmental regulator, Department of Environmental Conservation Commissioner Joe Martens, says his agency will likely finish its review of hydrofracking late next spring.
That means drilling permits for fracking could quickly follow.
That’s a faster timeline than expected. DEC officials had previously been much less specific, saying their report will probably be finished “sometime next year.”

Here’s an interview New York’s top environmental regulator, Joe Martens, gave to New York Now:
http://youtu.be/GXWHHZnX4tE