As the Associated Press reported over the weekend, State Director of Operations Howard Glaser quietly sent a memo to Department of Environmental Conservation Commissioner Joe Martens asking that his agency take more time studying the safety of hydraulic fracturing.

The controversial natural-gas extraction method involves using a mixture of chemicals and water to blast through rock. The DEC original was due to release its draft environmental review of the process, commonly known as hydrofracking, in June.

The memo takes special note of the April incident in Pennsylania, in which a natural gas suffered a blowout and spilled thousands of gallons of chemicals.

Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, meanwhile, filed a lawsuit against the federal government today for refusing to study the safety of hydrofracking.

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