YOUNGSVILLE – The Catskill Mountainkeeper organization is calling on President Obama’s administration not to approve any more natural gas drilling permits until the EPA’s study of the impacts of hydrofracking has been completed.

Mountainkeeper said that while the United States, especially in the Marcellus Shale region, have reserves of natural gas and there is interest in developing them, they are “enormously concerned about the idea of fast tracking natural gas exploration and the risks such actions will bring.”

Mountainkeeper volunteer Bruce Janklow, who is the group’s spokesman on this subject, said it is important for no more permits be granted for now.

“We want to make sure that the government takes careful note of the experiential things that have happened since hydrofracking has been utilized and identify what the threats are and basically not drill until we know that drilling can be done safely, and more than knowing that it can be done safely, know that it will be done safely,” he said.

Mountainkeeper has launched an email campaign to ask the president to hold off until the EPA has completed its study and in the first several days of the campaign, some 800 people have sent messages to the White House.