Thursday, April 14, 2011

Testimony shows Pa. regulators give little scrutiny to gas-drilling outfits

ALLENTOWN, Pa. — Pennsylvania environmental regulators say they spend as little as 35 minutes reviewing each of the thousands of applications for natural gas well permits they get each year from drillers intent on tapping the state’s lucrative and vast Marcellus Shale reserves.

And the regulators say they do not give any additional scrutiny to requests to drill near high-quality streams and rivers even though the waterways are protected by state and federal law.

Read more:  http://www.boston.com/lifestyle/green/articles/2011/04/14/testimony_shows_pa_regulators_give_little_scrutiny_to_gas_drilling_outfits/ARA

Article courtesy of The Boston Globe-Green Blog by  Michael Rubinkam