Tighter rein urged on Pa. gas drilling

An environmental advocacy group today called for tighter regulation of Pennsylvania's natural gas industry in the face of a dramatic escalation of deep wells tapping into the Marcellus Shale.

PennEnvironment, in a report issued today, called on policymakers to impose a severance tax on natural gas production and to increase funding for regulators to step up oversight of horizontal drilling, in which millions of gallons of fluid are injected into the ground to fracture the shale and stimulate gas production.

"The faster Pennsylvania's leaders work to pass comprehensive policies and regulations on this type of gas drilling, the less likely we'll be to see yet another gas leak or wastewater spill," said Erika Staaf, clean water advocate with PennEnvironment.

The group's report called for protecting sensitive areas and public water supplies from drilling. And it called for the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources to halt additional leasing of state forests until the effect of drilling can be measured on the 660,000 acres of state forests already under lease.

Environmentalists said that current reports of chemical spills and drinking water contamination will only multiply as drilling is expected to grow exponentially in the shale formation, which underlies much of the state.

"If you think there are problems out there now, increase that a thousandfold," said State Rep. Gregory Vitali (D., Havertown), who participated in a PennEnvironment teleconference today.