The Times Herald-Record's Steve Israel writes that even though a potential moratorium on gas drilling in New York state will only last until May (and that's only if it's approved by the State Assembly and the governor), nobody will be fracking until next August, at least:

Whether the Assembly and governor do what the state Senate just did and approve a moratorium on drilling permits until May, the state Department of Environmental Conservation won't be ready with new drilling regulations until at least then. Drilling of the gas-rich Marcellus shale can't start before that.

And that, he adds, is why the state Senate voted for the moratorium in the first place:

The DEC timeline gave wavering lawmakers the political cover to vote for a delay that may have happened anyway, moratorium or no moratorium.