The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation recently canceled a meeting of a drilling advisory panel because members are still reviewing more than 40,000 comments received on proposed fracking regulations.

Drilling in the Marcellus Shale requires the recommendations of the advisory panel, whose members include representatives from the energy industry, environmental groups and elected officials. An earlier meeting between the environmental department and the advisory panel was canceled on January 12.

The postponement marks yet another delay in New York's efforts to permit drilling in the Marcellus Shale.

Drilling in the Marcellus Shale began in 2008 in Pennsylvania.

"We're looking at three rules from three different regulatory bodies," said John Holko, president of Lenape Resources, Inc., a natural gas driller based in New York. "One is over 1,500 pages long. They say they'll get through all this by 2012, but realistically, we're into 2013 before we can actually begin drilling."

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