Lissa Harris is reporting at the Watershed Post, according to a recent editorial by Times Union columnist Fred LeBrun, a gubernatorial plan to greenlight hydraulic fracturing in New York state by fall is a done deal. Top state officials are in the process of briefing select environmental groups on a plan to be publicly released in a couple of weeks. It is a plan that endorses hydrofracking, initially on a limited basis, supposedly under the tightest regulatory and permitting requirements in the country. LeBrun's column is based on insider knowledge and contacts with anonymous sources within the Cuomo administration. No public version of Cuomo's gas drilling "roadmap" -- which both The New York Times and the Times Union characterize as a limited initial phase, and is restricted to towns that explicitly embrace shale gas drilling -- has been released. According to LeBrun, the Cuomo administration has concluded it cannot rely on the strength of existing laws and current DEC funding in this area to adequately protect the state, its citizens and resources. For fracking to go forward, the Legislature will be called on for additional DEC funding and to pass a package of yet unspecified regulatory bills. Read the full story in the Watershed Post.