Tagged: albany

Pencils down. Time is up.

"Today's the day all the homework assignments are due," says Empire State Development President and CEO Ken Adams.

The governor's ten regional economic development councils had until 4 p.m. Monday to submit their final strategic plans.

The state's economic development arm tells the Innovation Trail that all ten councils are in the process of meeting the submission guidelines.

A meeting scheduled for today, of the state's hydrofracking advisory panel, has been called off.

A spokeswoman for the Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC), which convenes the panel, confirmed that the meeting was not happening, but did not give a reason.

The 17 member advisory panel includes environmentalists, local government officials, and representatives from the natural gas drilling industry.  It's charged with giving recommendations to the DEC about how to best handle hydrofracking.

Erica Ringewald is the communications director for Environmental Advocates of New York, whose executive director, Robert Moore, is part of the advisory panel. She says the meeting was canceled because a number of state agencies did not have reports ready about how they will be affected by drilling.

About a dozen assembly members spent much of Thursday questioning top officials from the state's Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) at a public hearing on hydrofracking.

Lawmakers questioned whether the DEC is rushing the process, and relying on data from the natural gas drilling industry.

They were also concerned that the DEC and the state Department of Health might not have enough resources and staff to oversee potential threats to public health.