PITTSBURGH - The state Department of Environmental Protection has added a disclaimer to its Marcellus Shale natural gas reporting Web page.
The agency now tells visitors to the website that it can't guarantee the "accuracy, completeness or timeliness" of production data that companies submit and that "no warranty of any kind is given by DEP with respect to the production data."
Financial markets and energy companies use the production reports as part of long-term decisions involving billions of dollars.
The disclaimer comes after several experts in the oil and gas industry criticized DEP in August for not alerting the public to problems in a biannual report. One of the state's largest gas producers submitted unusable data and, as a result, the statewide production totals appeared to be far lower than they actually were.
A DEP spokesman did not immediately respond to questions about the disclaimer.
Current law relies on self-reporting by oil and gas companies, and DEP is not required to verify the data. In most states, companies report production every month, but Pennsylvania law requires only biannual reporting.