"Gov. Edward G. Rendell of Pennsylvania signed an executive order on Tuesday effectively banning further natural gas development on state forest lands.

Mr. Rendel, a Democrat, said the moratorium was needed in part to prevent the unchecked industrialization of public lands in a state that has seen a boom in natural gas development unparalleled there.

Much of Pennsylvania, along with large swaths of New York and West Virginia, sits atop the Marcellus Shale, a potentially vast natural gas resource that has only recently proved accessible through the use of advanced but environmentally contentious drilling techniques."

Tom Zeller Jr. reports for the New York Times October 26, 2010. [2]