Albany Times Union: It looks like the state Department of Environmental Conservation can put off a decision on a long-delayed crude oil plan at the Port of Albany for bit longer.

Facing a court-ordered June 13 deadline to rule on a plan by Massachusetts-based Global Companies to heat crude oil for shipment, DEC obtained a stay in the Appellate Division of state Supreme Court that pushes off the deadline while the state appeals the earlier ruling.

Outside DEC headquarters on Broadway on Tuesday, more than two dozen protesters urged that DEC reject Global’s plan, which calls for a heating plant at the port that opponent fear would allow the company to handle thick Canadian tar sands oil.

Tar sands oil is so thick it must be heated during winter months so it can be pumped from railroad tank cars into land-based storage tanks, and then into barges or tankers on the Hudson River. This type of oil is also called diluted bitumen, or dilbit. Heavier than common crude oil, it sinks in water, making it very difficult to clean up from rivers and other waterbodies. Read more.