Nearly 1,600 Marcellus Shale gas well drilling permits have been issued by the state so far this year, more than triple the number issued in all of 2008.

The statistics, compiled by the state Department of Environmental Protection, show that about one-third of the permitting activity this year has occurred in three northern tier counties, Susquehanna, Tioga, and Bradford.

For Susquehanna County Commissioner MaryAnn Warren, the Marcellus Shale natural gas exploration boom is great and worrisome at the same time. As permitting and drilling have increased, her county has seen a massive influx of well drilling-related equipment and manpower. The county, she said, is inundated with drilling and hydraulic fracturing or “fracking” activity, water trucks, residual waste trucks, and more and more companies looking to make money off the natural gas trapped in the shale thousands of feet below the county.

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