CHARLESTON -- Showing pictures of huge natural gas well fields and a patch of forest left dead from well wastewater, an environmental advocate asked state lawmakers to support increased regulations on drilling in the Marcellus shale.

Beth Little of the West Virginia Sierra Club told members of the state Joint Legislative Oversight Commission on State Water Resources that state law has little to prevent some of the worst environmental consequences of gas drilling using a process known as hydrofracking.

“They need millions of gallons of water, and there are no restrictions on water withdrawal in West Virginia except you are not supposed to take so much water it kills the stream,” she said.

The commission is considering a proposed law that would create new reporting and permitting requirements for drilling along the Marcellus shale. Specifically, it would require the creation of rules regulating water withdrawal and the disposal of wastewater from drilling operations.

The commission hasn’t decided whether to take the bill before the full Legislature, and it won’t take up the issue until January. Industry representatives say the bill is unnecessary because the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection already has the authority to spell out conditions for approving permits.

They also say the gas industry has been an economic boon to the state. When production dropped off due to weakening gas prices, the state saw declining tax revenues.

“(Less production) also means few good-paying jobs with benefits and the harsh reality facing families whose bread-winners were gainfully employed in the industry in West Virginia,” lobbyist Philip Reale stated in written testimony delivered to the commission.

The Marcellus shale is a huge natural gas formation lying primarily under West Virginia, Pennsylvania and New York. To extract the gas, drilling operators use a technique called hydrofracking where large quantities of water are injected into the formation to fracture the rock and release the gas.

Environmentalists say they have many concerns about hydrofracking. One concern is the large amount of water it requires and how the water use could impact nearby streams. Another concern focuses on how the water pulled from the wells is disposed of after the process is completed. The water, they say, is full of heavy metals and other pollutants.

Little showed lawmakers a picture of a patch of West Virginia forest that had been sprayed with a well wastewater. The vegetation in the foreground was dead, while the vegetation in the distance, which had not been sprayed, was lush and green. The wastewater even killed mature trees, which were still rotting away at the site a year later, she said.

Little said Pennsylvania officials have complained about the high level of total dissolved solids in the Monongahela River as it leaves the state. West Virginia has no standards for the discharges of dissolved solids into streams.

She said a recent fish kill in Dunkard Creek in Monongalia County shows that the introduction of some pollutants has harmful effects on streams. State officials have not linked that event to gas drilling. The kill was caused by a toxic form of algae that was able to bloom thanks to high salinity levels in the water.

With that in mind, Little said the Sierra Club would like to see the state adopt standards for water withdrawals, total dissolved solids and well spacing. It also wants higher permit fees, more money set aside for DEP inspections, a requirement to use synthetic liners for wastewater ponds, documentation of where the wastewater is being taken and treated and emergency plans for spills.