A call for stricter gas-drilling rules in Pa.

An environmental advocacy group yesterday called for tighter regulation of Pennsylvania's natural-gas industry in the face of a dramatic escalation of the number of deep wells drilled in the Marcellus Shale.

PennEnvironment's report 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 environmentally sensitive areas and public water supplies from drilling. And it called for the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources (DCNR) 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 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.

Drilling in the Marcellus Shale has increased dramatically in the last year because of new directional drilling technology, leading to an escalation in lease prices and well development, particularly in north-central and southwest Pennsylvania.

Though the state legislature turned back calls to impose a severance tax on gas production, it ordered DCNR to generate $60 million from new gas leases of state forestlands.

Stephen W. Rhoads, president of the Pennsylvania Oil and Gas Association, did not respond to a request for comment on the PennEnvironment report.