CITIZEN POWER ALLIANCE

Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s administration has ordered an expanded environmental review of proposed “hydrofracking” for natural gas in New York after an accident in Pennsylvania caused a well to gush salty, chemically tainted water for two days.

An internal memo obtained by The Associated Press directs the state Department of Environmental Conservation to review and learn any lessons from the April mishap in Pennsylvania’s Bradford County.

The memo dated Friday said the “blowout” raised issues about the controversial technology that need to be evaluated before New York decides whether to allow a major expansion of the potentially lucrative gas-extraction method, which has been assailed by some environmentalists as unsafe.

The memo was from Cuomo’s director of state operations, Howard Glaser, to Department of Environmental Conservation Commissioner Joseph Martens, a Cuomo appointee.

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