The Department of Environmental Protection announced this week it issued nearly one-third more oil and gas drilling permits during 2005 than the year before.

The department issued 6,046 permits in 2005, a 32.4 percent increase over the previous record of 4,567 permits in 2004.

“Oil and gas drilling activity is at record levels due to high natural gas and crude oil prices,” DEP Secretary Kathleen A. McGinty said. “The energy industry has responded to market demands by re-visiting Pennsylvania’s oil and gas fields, creating homegrown energy solutions that reduce our need to import fuel.

DEP’s Southwest Regional Office issued 3,002 permits last year, up from 2,248 in 2004. The Northwest Regional Office issued 3,044 oil and gas permits, up from 2,319 in 2004.

DEP’s Northwest Regional Office also set an all-time high of 333 drilling applications in November 2005 – the largest number of applications ever received by the department in any one-month period since the Oil and Gas Act of 1984.

NewsClips: Demand Punches Up Gas Drilling

High Gas Prices Fuel Boom in Drilling for Oil, Natural Gas in PA

1/13/2006