HARRISBURG - A state senator is in the hot seat over the abrupt resignation of the state environmental secretary and controversies relating to regulation of natural gas drilling and clean air.

Environmental groups have sharply criticized Sen. John Yudichak, D-14, Carbon County, as having a role in John Quigley's departure as secretary of the Department of Environmental Protection and for opposing Wolf administration proposals to regulate gas drilling and pass a clean power plan to reduce air pollution.Quigley, a one-time mayor of Hazleton, was brought down by a campaign orchestrated by Yudichak to divert attention away from his recent votes on gas drilling and the clean power plan, wrote veteran environmental activist Jan Jarrett in an Op-Ed on PennLive.Yudichak owes voters an explanation for his apparent role in the Quigley resignation and votes against environmental proposals, said Myron Arnowitt, Clean Water Action's Pennsylvania director.For his part, Yudichak said he's looking out for the interests of his district, which benefits greatly from coal land reclamation projects. He criticized environmental activists for disregarding the need to find compromise in a Republican-controlled Legislature."Activists don't like the regulatory process," he said. "They don't like compromise. They don't like Republicans and Democrats working together."Yudichak is in the spotlight because of his role as ranking Democrat on the Senate Environmental Resources and Energy Committee.With the Wolf administration giving no public reason for Quigley's departure and no public comment from Quigley himself, Yudichak found himself cast as chief public explainer.Poor judgmentThe senator issued a statement on Friday that Quigley had demonstrated poor judgment and a clear inability to work with lawmakers.The statement came hours after Gov. Tom Wolf announced a "personnel update" at DEP. That announcement came after an acknowledgment by his spokesman, Jeff Sheridan, that the administration was looking into a private email that Quigley sent.The email criticized both environmentalists and Democratic and GOP lawmakers for their roles in the recent environmental battles, the Associated Press reported Monday."He (Quigley) no longer had the confidence of the governor," Yudichak said on Monday. "Quigley in the end didn't represent the viewpoints of his own boss."A key point of dispute in the controversy revolves around whether Quigley got environmental groups to run ads critical of Yudichak for his committee vote on the clean power plan. An ad by PennFuture, Clean Air Council and PennEnvironment that ran earlier this month in The Times-Tribune criticized the senator for voting for "rollbacks that would make it harder for Pennsylvania to reduce global warming pollution."Quigley did send a blunt email to environmentalists urging them to do more to support the drilling regulations and clean power plan, but he's the victim of false allegations that he's behind the ad, Jarrett said."Lies and innuendos then that got layered around that kernel portraying Quigley as personally directing a campaign to inform Yudichak's constituents of his anti-environmental votes," Jarrett wrote.Suspicious of adYudichak said he is suspicious of the ad and concluded it was done at the behest of Quigley.Environmental activists ignore the importance of coal reclamation projects in Luzerne and Carbon counties when criticizing him over the clean power issue, Yudichak said.The key issue with the drilling regulations is whether they should apply to both the deep Marcellus Shale wells and conventional or shallow gas wells, Yudichak said."Conventional wells need to be regulated, but not in the same ways as Marcellus and other unconventional wells," he said. "Addressing conventional wells continues to be a topic of discussions."Yudichak's view of the drilling regulations differs from that of Rep. Greg Vitali, D-166, Havertown, ranking Democrat on the House Environmental Resources and Energy Committee.Conventional drillers were responsible for about half of the water supplies contaminated in Pennsylvania by drilling from 2008 to 2014, Vitali said."Gov. Tom Wolf and the Pennsylvania Legislature should stand firm and make sure these regulations apply to all gas drillers," Vitali wrote in an Op-Ed in PennLive.