New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo is reportedly close to making a public endorsement of high-volume hydraulic fracturing (HVHF) and will unveil a plan to allow the practice on a limited scale initially, but under strict regulation and only in localities that welcome it.

According to a report Saturday by the Albany Times-Union, Cuomo administration officials are currently contacting several environmental groups active in the state to alert them of the governor’s plan, which he will reportedly make public before Labor Day. That plan reportedly calls for having the state Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) issue permits for 50 HVHF wells in 2013, followed by another 100 wells in 2014.

A senior official with a major environmental organization, who declined to be identified, called the newspaper’s report accurate but disagreed with the characterization that the meetings with Cuomo officials were briefings.

“I would say that it’s an exaggeration to say that we were given a full briefing,” the official told NGI’s Shale Daily on Tuesday. “General concepts were discussed, but we saw no documents. I would characterize it as an informal heads-up.

“We all work closely with the [Cuomo] administration on a myriad of issues. We weren’t specifically contacted about this issue.”

The official added that unlike last year — when the DEC issued a list of recommendations on fracking, followed by a final draft of a supplemental generic environmental impact statement (SGEIS) on the practice (see Shale Daily, Sept. 8, 2011, July 5, 2011) — there wasn’t anything official to form an opinion on, at least for now.

“Certain changes have come up that [the Cuomo administration] wanted to make us aware of,” the official said. “In reflecting on the way things were unveiled last year, it’s a lot more important to see it on paper than to hear it by word of mouth. Sometimes the things that they suggest aren’t necessarily quite the same on paper.”

Moreover, the official’s environmental group as a whole “I don’t think can form an opinion from what we’ve seen so far. There were some specific things, but we would have to see it in the [regulations]. We would have to understand how that’s going to be carried out. It wasn’t described adequately to my satisfaction to understand how things have really changed since 2011.”

During an interview in July, Cuomo said he supported “home rule” legislation currently under consideration by the state legislature, and he described it as a mechanism for localities that support HVHF to eventually have it (see Shale Daily, July 11). One month earlier, the Democratic governor hinted that his administration was considering a plan to allow the practice in five counties along the Pennsylvania border (see Shale Daily, June 14). In New York going the home rule route would lessen the ability of the heavily populated New York City to restrict activities in other parts of the state.

Cuomo spokesman Josh Vlasto could not be reached for comment Tuesday.

In a statement Monday, Environmental Working Group (EWG) cited the newspaper report and blasted the governor for his reported stance on the issue.

“The Cuomo administration appears to be close to taking a multi-billion-dollar gamble with New Yorkers’ drinking water, health and home values by moving ahead with shale gas drilling before Labor Day,” EWG said. “This would be a mistake.”

But EWG spokesman Alex Formuzis told NGI’s Shale Daily the group hasn’t been officially contacted by Cuomo officials. “We have not been given access, as the [newspaper] report said, to the governor’s proposal,” Formuzis said Tuesday. “There might be other environmental groups that have it, but EWG does not.”

Political affairs specialists who work for the Environmental Advocates of New York and the Natural Resources Defense Council did not return phone calls seeking comment Tuesday.

“We have not heard anything officially,” Cherie Messore, spokeswoman for the Independent Oil and Gas Association of New York (IOGA), told NGI’s Shale Daily on Tuesday. “We also saw the same article in the Times-Union, but we have not heard from the governor’s office in an official capacity as of this moment. We’re letting the governor make the decision based on science and fact as he said he would and we look forward to that day coming soon.”

DEC spokeswoman Lisa King told NGI’s Shale Daily on Tuesday that regulators “are in the process of preparing responses to the 13,000 comments we received during the first comment period, and the 66,700 comments we received during this comment period. The compilation of these responses will be included in both the final SGEIS and final regulations.

“Once we review the comments, we will make any necessary changes to the documents. We expect the final documents to be released this year. If the final documents determine [HVHF] could move forward in New York, we could begin to review permit applications after the final SGEIS and findings statement are released.”