HARRISBURG - Only one lawmaker from Northeastern Pennsylvania sits on a key House committee that will handle bills dealing with the environmental impact of Marcellus Shale drilling this session.

This happens despite the fact that the region has been at the center of a drilling boom for the past four years and deals with a legacy of environmental issues dating from the heyday of anthracite mining.

Rep. Mike Carroll, D-118, Hughestown, is the region's sole representative on the 25-member House Environmental Resources and Energy Committee, the springboard for legislation dealing with protecting water supplies from drilling activities, severance taxes or impact fees on natural gas production, and boosting development of the deep gas pockets in the Marcellus Shale formation.

Panel members often emerge as bill co-sponsors or offer amendments at the early stage of consideration before a bill reaches a floor vote. The committee traditionally holds public hearings on environmental issues and meets with the secretaries of the departments of Environmental Protection and Conservation and Natural Resources.

The House panel is led by Rep. Scott Hutchinson, R-64, Oil City, and dominated by lawmakers from western Pennsylvania and the shallow-gas well region in northwestern Pennsylvania where drilling has occurred for 150 years. The panel is composed of 15 Republicans and 10 Democrats.

The House set up committees Wednesday for the 2011-2012 session.

Last session, four lawmakers from the region, including Carroll, sat on the House committee. Two are no longer in the House and the third, freshman Sen. John Yudichak, D-14, Nanticoke, is now ranking Democrat on the Senate Environmental Resources and Energy Committee.

Sens. Lisa Baker, R-20, Lehman Township, and Gene Yaw, R-23, Williamsport, remain members of that panel.

The makeup of the House Environmental Resources and Energy Committee is "a tragedy because the Northeast is so affected by the impact of drilling," Capitol activist Gene Stilp said. "This will mean that the citizens will have to take their concerns to their elected representatives who do not serve on that committee. The people will have to work harder to have a voice."

Stilp was among demonstrators calling for stricter state regulation of drilling at Gov. Tom Corbett's inaugural Tuesday. A large contingent from Northeastern Pennsylvania was among that group demanding that their voice be heard on drilling issues.

House committee assignments are determined by a special committee with House Speaker Sam Smith, R-66, Punxsutawney, and Minority Leader Frank Dermody, D-33, Pittsburgh, in lead roles.

The GOP assignments on the environmental panel were determined by openings, ranking members' requests and an effort to put the large number of freshmen lawmakers on committees where their background will be a plus, Smith said. There were three openings on the GOP side filled by freshmen.

Still, not having more lawmakers from the northeast drilling region on the panel strikes one member as unusual.

"It's baffling to me," said Rep. Eugene DePasquale, D-95, York, a former deputy DEP secretary in the Rendell administration. "I hope it's not intentional."

rswift@timesshamrock.com