In late 2011 the Pennsylvania Depaartment of Environmental Protection agreed to change its fast-track drilling permit process to protect the state’s most highly classified trout streams. The change came following an appeal by the Chesapeake Bay Foundation and other conservation groups, including PATrout Unlimited and the Friends of the Upper Delaware (FUDR). Many of the most highly protected streams under Pennsylvania environmental laws are within the Marcellus Shale drilling region. The Bay Foundation held lengthy discussions with the DEP to improve the fast-track drilling licensing regulations that allowed well drillers to have permits approved within days of submission, in some cases without required delineation of wetlands and erosion and sedimentation calculations. DEP says its proposed revised regulations will be open to public comment and will add more time to review proposed projects in sensitive areas, including high-quality trout streams. The settlement also will remove the expedited permitting process from floodplains.