On October 25, New York State Environmental Conservation Commissioner Joe Martens said his group won't be able to generate its report on drilling in the Marcellus Shale by November 1, creating uncertainty surrounding the timeline for issuing drilling permits for New York's portion of the Marcellus.

After participating in a meeting of the governor's advisory panel, which was created to advise the state on how to assemble the infrastructure needed to supervise a spike in drilling activity associated with the Marcellus Shale, Martens stated that the group will probably need several more months, Times Union reports.

The High-Volume Hydraulic Fracturing Advisory Panel is missing several crucial details needed to finish the report, including information on how local governments would be affected by the drilling activity, according to the media outlet. Martens stated that estimates are on required resources are still needed from four state agencies, which include Public Service, Health, Agriculture & Markets and Transportation.

While estimates of the resources contained in the Marcellus shale have varied, the U.S. Geological Service released a report in August which estimated that the formation contains 3.4 billion barrels of technically recoverable natural gas liquids and 84 trillion cubic feet of technically recoverable natural gas.