A recent letter from the head of the state Department of Environmental Protection to a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency official called the federal government's understanding of a local well water contamination issue "rudimentary," further straining relations between state and federal regulators regarding the Marcellus Shale.

John R. Hanger -- special counsel in Eckert Seamans Cherin & Mellott's Harrisburg office and, up until January of last year, secretary of the DEP -- described the current interaction between state and federal environmental regulators as "a relationship showing stress, as opposed to a relationship showing mutual understanding and a commitment to working together."

"I don't think we have outright war, nor do we have a smooth working relationship," Mr. Hanger said. "It would seem the relationship, at best, is not ideal."

He also said that politics probably plays a role in the friction.

"Secretary Krancer works for a conservative Republican governor and Shawn Garvin works for a Democratic president," Mr. Hanger said.

"It's pretty obvious that some of their political differences are entering into some of the communication. I think that's too bad. I think the political tensions need to be buried. They shouldn't intrude into these discussions."

The most recent example of this tension came -- as it has in the past -- in the form of written correspondence between DEP Secretary Michael L. Krancer and Shawn M. Garvin, the Region III administrator for the U.S. Department of Environmental Protection.

In a letter to Mr. Garvin dated Jan. 5, Mr. Krancer addressed the EPA's recent indications that it was considering sending clean water to the residents of Dimock, in Susquehanna County, about 30 miles north of Scranton.

The EPA said it was mulling the decision after the DEP had allowed driller Cabot Oil & Gas Corp., which is alleged to have contaminated several wells in Dimock, to discontinue delivering water to the town.