The American Petroleum Institute has been training state oil and gas regulators in drilling-heavy Eastern states to make sure its standards are well-known and understood.

The trade association has briefed regulators in Pennsylvania and West Virginia about its standards on hydraulic fracturing, a process essential to prying gas from deep rock formations in those states. But it has also raised questions about water pollution and other problems.

"We're reaching out to the regulators," API Executive Vice President Marty Durbin said. "In Pennsylvania and West Virginia we were asked to return and provide additional training."

The training sessions come as the industry tries to buff its image and address concerns that oil and gas interests usually dismiss as false fears spread by environmental groups opposed to fossil fuel production. API kicked off that effort last week at a workshop in Pittsburgh called "Commitment to Excellence in Hydraulic Fracturing" (Greenwire, Oct. 16).

A panel commissioned by the Obama administration recently criticized the industry's response to such concerns and said that "absent effective control," political pressure could jeopardize oil and gas production. But API says that group, an advisory panel to Energy Secretary Steven Chu, overlooked effective regulation by the states (Greenwire, Aug. 17).

"They are doing an effective, credible job," Durbin said. But API officials conceded that the industry has a perception problem in many of the communities where it has recently started to drill.

The training sessions with state regulators have focused on five API standards related to hydraulic fracturing and drilling practices.

API is also developing recommendations for drillers on how to introduce themselves to the communities where they are going to operate. Currently, the industry has an addendum to standard that addresses "good neighbor" practices. But those recommendations, developed out of discussions between ranchers and drillers in New Mexico's San Juan Basin, address company-to-landowner dealings rather than company-to-community relationships.

Beyond the Pittsburgh conference, industry officials have voiced a cautious acceptance of the need for U.S. EPA's new air rules governing oil and gas production. And they fell in behind Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Corbett's call for impact fees on drilling and new rules. Environmentalists have criticized the Republican's proposals as weak.