he Governor's Office is refusing to make public correspondence between it and the oil and gas industry regarding potential new regulations on Marcellus Shale drilling operations.

Lawyers for Senate President Earl Ray Tomblin, acting as governor, this week denied a Freedom of Information Act request from The Charleston Gazette for the records.

The Gazette had asked for correspondence between any outside parties and the Governor's Office concerning the drafting of Tomblin's July 12 executive order calling for emergency rules on drilling operations.

Tomblin issued the order -- requiring new rules from the state Department of Environmental Protection -- in response to growing public pressure following the failure of any Marcellus legislation to win approval earlier this year.

On Tuesday, the Governor's Office provided the Gazette with copies of dozens of letters from individual citizens and some environmental groups calling for a special legislative session or a moratorium on new drilling operations.

In a three-page letter, Deputy General Counsel Jeffrey M. Shawver said the Governor's Office had withheld an unspecified number of records that Shawver said were part of the office's "deliberative process."

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