ALBANY – The Dec. 31 deadline is fast approaching for individuals wishing to comment on the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation’s regulatory plan for drilling into shale formations.

A website available online at EnergyInDepth.org carries a New York-specific page with links and information on the draft DEC plan, along with a sample letter and submission form that residents can use to quickly and easily make their views known in Albany.

Coming in at more than 800 pages in length, the plan was released in September after nearly three years of study and research by the agency. If approved, it would allow the state to proceed one step closer toward the future possibility of exploring the prolific Marcellus Shale formation, an 8,000-foot-deep reserve that some researchers estimate could hold more than $1 trillion-worth of clean-burning, job-creating natural gas.