NORWICH – Senator Tom Libous, R-52nd District, said he expected shale gas drilling permits will be issued in New York sometime next year despite an extension granted Tuesday to a DEC sanctioned advisory panel’s safety review.

The panel, made up of environmental, industry and local government representatives, is tasked with developing recommendations for a system of oversight, monitoring and enforcement. It is currently collecting information from various state agencies to assess how much they will need in additional resources when drilling begins.

On Tuesday, the group decided to consider local resource needs along with state needs, DEC spokesman Michael Bopp said.

“It was anticipated that the panel’s report would be completed by early November. We’ve taken that deadline pressure off the table,” Bopp said Wednesday. “The group wants to learn more and study more.”

Libous, who advocates for safe, responsible natural gas drilling, said the panel could wrap up its work in January or February. He delivered his predictions to a group of Chenango County leaders yesterday at the Eaton Center in Norwich during a discussion of New York’s economic climate.

Joe Martens, who heads the Department of Environmental Conservation, said the report must be in place before his agency will issue permits for the controversial technology known as high water volume hydraulic fracturing. Martens had previously predicted that permits would be issued in 2012.