Look for energy -- and conservation -- to be an issue during the Senate race this fall.

We posted several days ago about Pat Toomey's contributions from Halliburton, and today Joe Sestak called for further investigation of gas shooting 75 feet into the air at an Enron well in Clearfield County last week. (At CMU, Obama promised to push through the Kerry/Liberman climate bill, which could also roil the Senate this year.)

And here's Toomey as of last week on his support of offshore drilling.

From the Sestak camp:

The circumstances of the accident are similar to those that led to the BP oil rig explosion in April at the Deepwater Horizon Rig in the Gulf of Mexico. Joe wrote a letter to Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Lisa Jackson to ask that the Marcellus Shale development be monitored by the EPA to ensure that drilling does not harm Pennsylvania's water resources.

"This accident highlights the significant dangers of these drilling operations, which are expanding in Pennsylvania at an unprecedented rate and scale," wrote Joe, noting that American Rivers has declared the Upper Delaware River the most endangered in the country due to Marcellus Shale development. "Proper regulations are not in place to manage them and protect the public."

Joe asked Administrator Jackson to increase EPA's authority "to the maximum extent possible" to oversee the development of the Marcellus Shale as he and Sen. Bob Casey work on efforts to protect Pennsylvania's natural resources. For example, Pennsylvania must have proper investigation and testing of groundwater and air contamination and the EPA has the technical expertise to help put the safest possible procedures in place.

Joe has co-sponsored the FRAC Act, a companion to a Casey-sponsored Senate bill, that would repeal the "Halliburton Loophole," a Bush-era special-interest deal that allows drillers to skirt the Safe Drinking Water Act.