ALBANY (AP) -- A health study cited by leading environmentalist Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as pivotal in helping persuade Gov. Andrew Cuomo to hold off on plans for a limited fracking pilot program is likely years away from conclusions about whether the shale gas-drilling technology is safe.
Andy Deubler (DOOB'-luhr), an executive vice president at Geisinger Health System in Pennsylvania, says the study is still in early planning stages with only a fraction of its necessary funding. He says it's just one piece of a larger body of independent research just getting under way and seeking funding.
Preliminary results are expected within a year.
Leaders of an anti-fracking coalition in New York state have said Cuomo should wait for results of the Geisinger study. They also want a more extensive, New York-specific review.
(Copyright ©2013 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
