Green groups question gas drilling report

PITTSBURGH (AP) — The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection thinks it is doing a good job regulating the gas drilling boom, but environmental groups say that a new state report is too optimistic.

The DEP issued the report this week and claimed that Pennsylvania is a “world class leader” in regulating oil and gas production and balancing economic and environmental needs.

But Delaware Riverkeeper Maya K. van Rossum says “Pennsylvania is either fooling itself, or working hard to fool the world” and that no one should look to the state as a model.

The 2013 Oil and Gas Annual Report found that energy companies drilled 1,207 unconventional shale gas wells last year. Over the last six years the Marcellus Shale has become one of the most productive natural gas regions in the country.