ALBANY — Gov. Cuomo continues to drag his feet on whether to allow hydraulic fracking for natural gas upstate.
His administration admitted yesterday there is “no timetable for a decision” just months after saying a decision was only weeks away.
“There’s been no change on where we are on fracking,” Cuomo said.
During a meeting of Cuomo’s Cabinet yesterday, Health Commissioner Nirav Shah said he recently met with federal Environmental Protection Agency officials in Washington and has been to Pennsylvania, where fracking is allowed.
But Shah said he had no idea when he expects to complete a study on the potential health risks of fracking.
Cuomo has said he wants to let “facts and science” determine whether the process can be done safely, and he wants the Health Department study done before he makes a decision.
Mayor Bloomberg, during an energy speech yesterday at the Javits Center, made a pitch to start fracking.
“The pollution from coal takes 13,000 lives a year in our country. If that isn’t enough of a reason to make . . . fracking the better alternative, I don’t know what is,” Bloomberg said.