WASHINGTON, Pa. (AP) -- Gov. Ed Rendell met with officials in western Pennsylvania on Tuesday to garner support for a tax on Marcellus Shale drillers, while a Pittsburgh councilman introduced a bill to ban the drilling altogether in the city.
Rendell met with local officials, business leaders and environmental groups in Washington, which has experienced the most Marcellus Shale drilling in the region to date. The governor was greeted by about two dozen protesters holding red, white and blue signs calling for an end to the drilling.
Rendell said the drilling is creating new challenges for communities that are worried about the environmental effects of the process used to extract natural gas and about incurring the costs associated with drilling accidents.
Hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, involves the injection of millions of gallons of chemical-laden water deep underground to break up the shale and let natural gas escape, leaving much of the water below ground.
Opponents contend it not only threatens the quality of groundwater but the quantity because it requires so much water be withdrawn from area rivers. The industry says fracking has a long track record and is safe, with no confirmation that the process has ever contaminated water supplies, and that other kinds of energy production use much more water.
Rendell said the drilling is creating huge economic possibilities for the state and that lawmakers should not chase drillers away.
"There's no doubt that this activity and this industry is creating new economic opportunities for our state," he said.
Some experts believe the Marcellus Shale, a giant gas field underlying much of New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio and West Virginia and with as much as 500 trillion cubic feet, could become the nation's most productive, with enough natural gas to supply the energy-hungry East Coast for 50 years.
Rendell and state lawmakers pledged in this summer's budget agreement to enact a severance tax on drillers by Oct. 1.
"The battleground is the next four to five weeks," Rendell said.
Meanwhile, Pittsburgh City Councilman Doug Shields as promised a few weeks ago introduced a bill Tuesday that would ban Marcellus Shale drilling in the city. His bill comes as leases for drilling in Allegheny county have boomed.
About 7 percent of Allegheny County's land parcels have been leased for drilling, mostly for Marcellus Shale exploration, according to the University of Pittsburgh Center for Social and Urban Research. In the city, only about 362 acres has been leased.
AP-WS-AP-WF-09-07-10 1801GMT
