"Pennsylvania's environmental protection chief is defending his agency's controversial system for testing water wells near Marcellus Shale operations by saying other states work the same way. But regulators in those states say that's not true."

"The flap began in the Keystone State, where it recently came to light that the state Department of Environmental Protection routinely withholds water quality data it deems irrelevant to oil and gas contamination. Critics are pressuring regulators to overhaul that practice because they say the untold contaminants could make people sick.

In the two weeks since a state legislator publicized the issue by calling for an investigation, DEP officials have repeatedly defended their process as standard operating procedure that has simply been "misapprehended" by drilling critics."

Ellen M. Gilmer reports for EnergyWire November 20, 2012. [2]