The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports that “the election of a new governor combined with delays caused by a legal settlement might imperil plans by Gov. Tom Corbett and the legislature to raise $95 million by signing new natural gas leases on public lands this fiscal year.”  

“Gov.-elect Tom Wolf, a Democrat, campaigned on a pledge to reinstate the ban on new oil and gas leases in state parks and forests that was in place from October 2010 through this May. His inauguration is Jan. 20.”  

“That leaves little time for the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources to evaluate proposals by drilling companies, especially since the state agreed not to sign any leases while the Commonwealth Court considers an environmental group’s legal challenge to the way the state raises and spends revenue from oil and gas wells on public lands.”