Spain pushed back against European shale with a local vote in the northern region of Cantabria mounted a vote against the practice of hydraulic fracking amid mounting concerns about its environmental impact.

FORBES: Why is Spain Pushing Back on Shale?

The Department of Environmental Conservation had faced a deadline Wednesday to complete its comprehensive environmental impact study of drilling for gas using high-volume hydraulic fracturing, or fracking.

WSJ: NY health chief: Longer gas-drilling study needed

Avella, author of a bill to prohibit gas drilling using hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, asked Martens whether there was a separate health impact study being reviewed by Shah and a panel of outside experts.

WSJ: DEC head: No 'timetable' on NY fracking decision

New York has had a statewide moratorium on gas drilling that uses high-volume hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, since the Department of Environmental Conservation began an environmental impact study and regulatory overhaul in 2008.

WSJ: 3rd NY town wins in court over fracking ban

"Regardless of this firm's expertise on purely technical matters unrelated to policy formation, Ecology and Environment's participation in a trade association and lobbying effort in support of authorizing high-volume hydraulic fracturing in New York fundamentally disqualifies the firm and its work" for the DEC environmental impact study, Russ Haven of the New York Public Interest Research Group said in a statement released Wednesday.

WSJ: NY groups claim industry bias in fracking study