Never mind yesterday’s Energy Information Administration report that pointed to hydraulic fracturing as a major driver behind the United States’ spectacular oil-production forecasts and indefinite natural gas-production forecasts, and that without the recent shale revolution, our domestic economy might otherwise be almost running on empty — because that’s not important. The important thing is clearly to slow-walk and obfuscate on a study that may-or-may-not confirm the already-confirmed environmental- and public health-safety of a drilling technique that has been cleared by the many other states currently cashing in on its benefits, in order to assuage the powerful environmentalist interests who can help enhance your reelection prospects. You know how it is.

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo has been taking his sweet time with finally greenlighting hydraulic fracturing for his state for ages now, and evidently, he has no plans to capitulate to the general interests of New Yorkers any time soon. Via the NYT:

Almost 15 months after his administration began a study to evaluate the health risks of the hydraulic fracturing process of drilling for natural gas, Mr. Cuomo said he did not have a timeline for the report’s release. In May, he anticipated that it would be done “in the next several weeks,” and last month he said he expected it to be done before the 2014 general election, when he will be running for a second term.

But on Monday, sitting at the same table as the state’s health commissioner, Dr. Nirav R. Shah, Mr. Cuomo said, “My timeline is whatever commissioner Shah needs to do it right and feel comfortable.” The governor said he did not want “to put undue pressure on them that would artificially abbreviate what they’re doing.” …

Pressed on whether he was being open enough about the study’s methods and findings, Dr. Shah said that “science needs to be done in a sacred place where we can, with objectivity, understand both sides of the issue.”

“The process needs to be transparent at the end, not during,” he added.

A “sacred place”? “Transparent at the end”? …Is this real life?

Once more, aggressive lobbies of eco-radical progressives are wreaking havoc on what could otherwise be abundant opportunities for jobs and economic growth, using a decades-old drilling technique currently being successfully employed around the country and contributing to the United States’ overwhelming private-sector energy successes. In other news, it’s Tuesday.