Metro

Gov hits gas on drilling plan

ALBANY — When it comes to fracking in upstate New York, Gov. Cuomo says the issue isn’t whether it will happen — it’s how it will happen.

“I don’t think the question was, ‘Should we develop natural gas?’ ” Cuomo said on Albany’s Talk 1300 AM radio yesterday. “The question is the protections, and how, and the regulations, and that’s what DEC [the Department of Environmental Conservation] is working through.”

Environmental groups that oppose drilling into upstate’s Marcellus Shale with a high-pressure chemical-and-water mix reacted warily.

“If he is saying they have already prejudged the decision and they are just figuring out the fine points, Riverkeeper will be very disappointed, and I’m sure other groups will as well,” said program director Kate Hudson. “We are hopeful that what he means is . . . they are still working on collecting facts.”

Cuomo spokesman Josh Vlasto said no fracking determinations have been made and “we are still doing the analysis.”

But Cuomo yesterday called natural gas “a great resource. It helps this country. It helps the economy in many different ways.”

DEC has predicted hydrofracking could create nearly 54,000 jobs upstate, but opponents claim the practice could endanger water supplies.