Litigants in two cases have failed to force the Cuomo administration to make a decision about whether to permit commercial natural gas drilling through hydrofracking.

Acting Albany County Supreme Court Justice Roger McDonough held in two nearly identical July 11 rulings, Wallach v. New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, 6770-2013, and Joint Landowners Coalition of New York v. Cuomo, 843-2014, that the plaintiffs do not have legal standing to bring their claims.