The Green Party of Pennsylvania has called for the resignation of John Hanger, acting secretary of the state Department of Environmental Protection, citing his statement that the value of the natural gas in the deep Marcellus shale formation outweighs the environmental damage the drilling may cause.

Mr. Hanger, in a story on the Reuters wire last week, said the drilling into the 5,000- to 8,000-foot-deep shale formation that underlies much of the state will "inevitably" result in environmental damage, including possible contamination of water supplies.

Tim Reim, Erie County Green Party chairman, said in a Thursday release that Mr. Hanger's "willingness to sacrifice the rights of some Pennsylvanians to clean water from their own wells ... so the natural gas industry can profit privately" contradicts the DEP's mission.

It was a rough week for Mr. Hanger, who was criticized by conservative Republican lawmakers at a Pennsylvania Senate confirmation hearing in Harrisburg Wednesday.

Mr. Hanger, a former executive director of Citizens for Pennsylvania's Future, a more mainstream statewide environmental group, said it was a "typical week." He said he has no plans to resign and rejected Mr. Reim's and the Green Party's positions as inaccurate and extreme.

This week the DEP continued to investigate methane contamination of nine drinking water wells in Dimock, Susquehanna County, that has been linked to Marcellus shale wells operating in the area. Department testing of 38 home water wells has found no drilling water chemicals.

The Green Party also called for a ban on deep well drilling hydrofracturing, a process that pressure pumps chemically treated water into the shale to "frack" it and release the gas trapped in its layers; no drilling on publicly owned forests; and a severance tax on all mineral extraction in the state.

The Rendell administration has proposed a severance tax on Marcellus shale gas, an action supported by 30 environmental and citizen groups but opposed by the industry.

The Marcellus shale contains approximately 350 trillion cubic feet of natural gas, enough to supply U.S. demand for 10 to 15 years. State officials say it could bring billions of dollars into the state and create thousands of jobs.