5/17/2012: Corbett speaks on Act 13; how much did drillers spend on lobbying this year?

- Three energy industry groups are sponsoring a rally Friday at the Washington County Fairgrounds, aimed at encouraging voters to consider domestic energy issues at the ballot box this year. (Post-Gazette)

- At a Philadelphia event this week, Gov. Tom Corbett defended the zoning provisions in Act 13, but on the confidentiality agreement for doctors to access information on trade-secret chemicals, he said he's "not sure how that got put in there." (StateImpact Pennsylvania)

- The Morning Call dug through new lobbying disclosure figures and calculated that during the first three months of the year -- which includes the Feb. 14 approval of the new gas drilling law -- five of the state's largest drilling interests spent $1.3 million to lobby officials.

- The state Game Commission is accepting bids to lease more than 3,000 acres of game land in Bradford County for natural gas drilling. (Towanda Daily Review)

- And in West Virginia, the push to hire new gas-drilling inspectors has prompted an outcry among veteran regulators over a new set of standards for starting pay and educational requirements. (Associated Press)