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NEW YORK STATE -- A scheduled hearing of the state's advisory panel on hydrofracking was canceled on Friday.

The Department of Conservation didn't provide a reason for the cancelation, but a spokesperson said the panel will meet in two weeks.

Opponents of the controversial natural gas technique suggest the cancelation is a sign that state agencies are not prepared to deal with fracking.

The executive director of Environmental Advocates of New York, Rob Moore, issued a heated statement claiming that several agencies have not finished their estimates of the impact new wells will have on their staff and resources.

Moore said, "Clearly, state agencies are caught flat-footed by Governor Cuomo's rush to drill. We're less than two months from closing the simultaneous comment periods on the environmental impact statement, regulations and draft permit, and the Governor and New York State's agencies still don't know how many tens of millions of dollars this industry will cost the state."

Public hearings on hydrofracking are set to start next month, with the public comment period ending in early December.