HARRISBURG -- A group of 31 state House Democrats have signed a letter opposing the leasing of additional state forest land for natural gas drilling, one of the key areas to generate revenue for the proposed $27.9 billion compromise state budget.

Last week, state Rep. David Levdansky was joined by seven other House Democrats in opposing drilling expansion. Today, Mr. Levdansky said 31 Democrats have signed a letter to House Democratic leaders outlining their opposition.

The letter makes three points, Mr. Levdansky said:

• don't strip the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources of its power to decide how much, if any, additional state forest land should be leased to drill for underground natural gas in the vast area of Marcellus shale throughout the state. So far, 660,000 acres have been leased. Mr. Levdansky fears additional drilling could cause serious environmental damage if DCNR doesn't oversee the leasing process.

• don't permanently eliminate the agency's Oil and Gas Fund, so that lease payments for state land and from royalties paid on oil and gas taken from those lands would be shifted into the state's general fund instead of being used to fix state parks and forests, as it has for the past 50 years.

• enact a severance tax, also called an extraction tax, on all the natural gas pumped out of the areas of Marcellus shale. Other states already have such a tax, Mr. Levdansky said, but the current Pennsylvania budget proposal of $27.9 billion doesn't include such tax revenue. Gov. Ed Rendell has proposed the tax but Republican legislators oppose it.

The negative stance of the 31 House Democrats -- if they are joined by 90 or so House Republicans -- would defeat the leasing idea, contained in the current budget proposal.

House Democratic leaders this afternoon are holding a closed meeting with their caucus to try to persuade them to vote for the $27.9 billion budget, but the proposal could be up to $100 million out of balance if the Marcellus shale land leasing plan is defeated.

Pennsylvania is the only state without a 2009-10 budget and Mr. Rendell has called on the Legislature to approve a plan so he can sign it by Sunday.

More details in tomorrow's Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

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