A recently amended lawsuit by Beth Voyles of Amwell Township, Washington County against the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection is revealing a disparity between the agency's popular perception and its actual behavior.

Think environmental regulatory agencies will protect your community? The Pennsylvania "Department of Environmental Protection" [sic] is issuing illegal permits for massive water withdrawals to gas drilling corporations in the Western part of the state. Bill Belitskus, Executive Director of the Appalachian Defense Project, had real difficulty getting corporate media to cover this story - and only one newspaper finally agreed. What's done illegally is bad enough. What's done by so-called "regulators" of the rate of destruction of nature who license the plunder "legally" is the untold story of how we ignore illegitimate government and let it strip the rights of human and natural communities.