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, sit 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.
http://green.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/10/26/pennsylvania-governor-bans-fracking-in-state-forests/?src=twt&twt=nytenvironment