At the Marcellus Shale Coalition's Shale Gas Insight conference on Thursday, legislative leaders announced that several legislative proposals would be introduced in the fall. The proposals will address various points of contention caused by the activity surrounding the Marcellus Shale boom, The Times-Tribune reports.

The panel of lawmakers that made the announcement included Senate Republican Majority Leader Dominic Pileggi, Representative Sandra Major and Representative Mike Hanna , according to the media outlet.

State Department of Environmental Protection Secretary Michael Krancer delivered a keynote speech, which argued that the state government should play a more important role in regulating the oil industry than the federal government, the media outlet reports.

"The free-market system must work on everybody obeying the same rules," he said. "Cheaters cannot be allowed to gain an unfair advantage over those who devote the time, attention, resources, capital and effort to be compliant with regulations."

The West Virginia legislature has also taken an active role in regulating the Marcellus Shale by issuing an emergency regulation, according to The Associated Press. The new mandate obligates drillers to outline plans for responding to accidents, protecting land and managing the large volumes of water that will be encountered during drilling.