Scott Waldman is reporting at Politico New York the state’s evaluation of a crude oil heating project that could transform the type of crude oil brought into New York by rail in now in a state of limbo. The state Department of Environmental Conservation has not yet ordered a full environmental review or imposed a timeline on when a decision will be made. The possibility still exists that the DEC will not conduct a full environmental review at all. This week, acting DEC commissioner Marc Gerstman was noncommittal as to when the state would have a final decision on the project. He was careful to avoid calling the state’s current analysis of the crude project an environmental review. Gerstman said, “Certainly the options are all out there and we haven’t determined which course we’re going to take yet. We’ll continue the review and look at all the comments we received and [will] make a decision after that.” The project to install boilers near the Port of Albany that would allow for the offloading of heavy crude oil could establish a foothold for an expansion of shipping tar sands crude from western Canada to the east coast of the U.S. Community and environmental groups have hosted dozens of protests against the project. Tar sands crude is heavier than other crude oil, likely to sink in bodies of water and nearly impossible to clean up. Read the full story at Politico New York.