Last week, CNBC reported some revealing -- and disturbing -- comments made by company representatives at a recent oil and gas industry conference in Houston.

One presenter referred to citizens expressing concerns about fracking as “insurgents,” and went so far as to suggest that his colleagues download a copy of the Army and Marine Corps counterinsurgency manual.  An industry spokesman later claimed that the reference was a joke. Another presenter told attendees that his company has a former military psychological operations, or “psy ops,”  specialist on staff to work with local governments in Pennsylvania, and that “we’ve found that his service in the Middle East is a real asset.”

Is Pennsylvania under an occupation by drillers?

The “insurgent” commenter later tried to explain his statement as simply suggesting that his industry more actively engage communities (hopefully not like the military engages targets). He said “it’s very important to build fact-based knowledge to maintain public trust amidst special interests that often use misinformation to create fear.”

Well (excuse the pun), here are some facts to consider.

Previous waves of resource extraction that punctuate Pennsylvania’s history have resulted in privatized profits and socialized costs. Communities caught in the bust part of the boom and bust cycle. Environmental degradation. Compromised public health. There is ample reason to view the current drilling invasion cautiously.

There are at least 7 million acres in Pennsylvania -- 25 percent of the total land area of the state -- under lease by the gas drilling industry. Shale drillers are effectively occupying a quarter of Pennsylvania, and a third of our state forest. They will profoundly affect communities, economies, forests, fields, and ecosystems. The gas industry will change the face of Penn’s Woods. The question is: how much?

The Nature Conservancy estimates that gas drilling will take place in 80 percent of the watersheds in Pennsylvania that support trout; and in 40 percent of habitats that shelter globally rare and endangered species; and that -- very conservatively -- over a million acres of Pennsylvania’s forest cover will be damaged over the next 20 years as drilling proceeds.

Perhaps a little fear is not so misplaced.

Here is another fact: From 2008 until mid-October of this year, Pennsylvania’s Department of Environmental Protection reports that 1,622 inspections of Marcellus gas wells yielded 3071 violations of state drilling regulations, which resulted in 827 enforcement actions and total fines collected of $26.6 million. Those numbers do little to win public confidence, much less hearts and minds. Nor does the fact that the gas industry pays no state drilling tax, as they do in every other gas-producing state.

Also not so good for public confidence: the industry-backed proposed House Bill 1950. It would impose an anemic local impact fee on drilling activities with an effective tax rate of about 1 percent, but would nullify local government sovereignty over drilling by “superseding and preempting” local drilling ordinances in favor of state rules. It would also allow for privatized drilling permit reviews.

So much for public trust.

Here is yet another fact: The water in some drilled communities is fouled. Just ask the residents of Dimock.  And while Pennsylvania has put in place new gas well construction rules designed to eliminate private water well contamination, another fact is that the gas industry has averaged eight violations of these new regulations per month in the first eight months of this year.

Yet another fact is that gas wells in Pennsylvania sometimes become improvised explosive devices.

None of this is very effective in pacifying the locals.

This new industry has swept into Pennsylvania with much economic promise -- and considerable risk. The risks must be understood, and then eliminated, minimized, or managed.  The gas industry’s march across the state must be tightly regulated. And taxed.

What Pennsylvania needs from drillers is not military tactics, but military precision in developing Pennsylvania’s shale gas resources. No shortcuts. No mistakes. They should follow the rules, support tougher ones, and then go beyond them. They should execute flawlessly -- every well, every time. And they should respect the locals and commit to real community engagement and full transparency.

That kind of operation will be a truly liberating one for Pennsylvania’s environment and economy.