NORWICH – The state’s environmental conservation agency will take more time to present its revised regulations for high water volume horizontal hydraulic fracturing in New York State’s natural gas resources.

The draft Supplemental Generic Environmental Impact Statement was supposed to be released next month, but now a spokesman for the New York Department of Environmental Conservation said the target date is more likely to be late summer. The DEC has been working on the permitting document for nearly three years.

Nonetheless, the delay didn’t prevent a group of Windsor landowners from finalizing a leasing contract this week for natural gas development with Inflection Energy worth $8.25 million. The landowners, who were part of the Windsor & Colesville Oil and Gas Lease Coalition, will receive $2,750 per acre in bonuses, plus 18 percent royalty payments on any gas extracted.

Due to the anti-drilling climate, it has been more than a year since a Southern Tier coalition’s holdings were leased. The president of a group of landowners representing 200,000 acres from Chenango and Otsego counties welcomed Tuesday’s news.

“I’m happy for them and I’m glad land is being gobbled up. But I see that transaction as somewhat of a bargain for companies. They still see leasing as somewhat of a risk because of the conditions here,” said Brian Conover of the Central New York Landowners Coalition.

The original June 1 date for releasing the SGEIS was incorporated into an executive order issued by Gov. David Paterson upon leaving office in late December, when he vetoed legislation that would have placed a moratorium on all types of drilling in New York. The DEC’s Michael Bopp said the date was not something that the DEC was consulted on initially, and the expectation was that completing the document would take longer.

The DEC has been at work revising its permitting regulations for the technologically enhanced means of extracting natural gas from subsurface shales since 2008. The now 1,300 page permitting document covers everything from well capping and cement casing specifications, to how to monitor and treat wastewater, to managing the increased truck traffic expected on rural roadways.

A previous public comment period, which ended Dec. 1, 2009, resulted in 14,000 comments, all of which have been considered and or implemented over the past 17 months.