Department of Environmental Conservation Commissioner Joe Martens says one day after the public comment period has closed, his staff is still opening boxes. He expects the number of comments on a draft environmental impact statement for hydrofracking in New York State to reach 40,000.  

Commissioner Martens says all of the comments will be soon be posted on the DEC website, but he can’t say how long it will take to review them all. He says the process will likely take “months,” but not years.

“We don’t want to waste time either,” said Martens. “We’re not dallying in our review of this.”  

Martens says the future of fracking in New York is yet to be determined. He says there could be “new information” in the comments that the DEC has not yet heard of, and he does not want to “prejudge” the process.