The state's top environmental regulator said Tuesday it is "conceivable" that a handful of permits could be issued this year for high-volume hydraulic fracturing, and said a final decision on the gas extraction technique is "months, not years" away, the Ithaca Journal reported.

Department of Environmental Conservation Commissioner Joe Martens told a panel of state lawmakers that Gov. Andrew Cuomo's 2012-13 budget proposal does not seek any funds for additional gas drilling regulators because of "the considerable work that remains before we finalize our regulatory framework."

But he acknowledged the possibility that a small number of permits could be issued in 2012 with the agency's existing staff. The amount of permits, however, would be "extremely limited," he said.

Currently, the agency has 16 gas drilling regulators. DEC had previously estimated it would need 140 additional workers the first year it issues permits for high-volume hydrofracking, a technique used with gas drilling that requires a high-pressure mix of water, sand and chemicals. That estimate is based on 75 wells, the gas industry's best guess for how quickly it would ramp up production in New York the first year the state gives hydrofracking the green light.

Wayne Bayer, a shop steward for the Public Employees Federation, said the union supports a moratorium on hydrofracking because of the agency's dwindling staff level. The agency has lost more than 800 full-time employees since 2008 because of budget cutbacks. PEF represents about 1,700 scientific and technical workers at the DEC, Bayer said.

An 18-member advisory panel convened by DEC to determine how to pay for state workers overseeing hydrofracking postponed issuing its recommendations, missing the Nov. 1 deadline. The panel has been on hiatus since December. Two of its meetings have been canceled since the public comment period closed Jan. 11, as the Environmental Conservation Department reviews the mounds of feedback, sifting for any information that would warrant further revisions.