ASSOCIATED PRESS: Pennsylvania state regulators have fined natural gas drilling company Chesapeake Energy Corp. more than $1 million, which officials said Tuesday is the single largest fine for an oil or gas operator in the state. The state Department of Environmental Protection said the fine stems from Chesapeake’s contamination of private water supplies in northern Pennsylvania’s Bradford County and a February tank fire at a drilling site in southwestern Pennsylvania’s Washington County. In Bradford County, the department said that improper well casing and cementing allowed natural gas to seep into groundwater and contaminate 16 families’ drinking water wells. The department began investigating the complaints last year. In December, the agency announced a settlement with Houston-based Cabot Oil & Gas Corp. to pay $4.1 million to residents in the northern Pennsylvania town of Dimock where private water wells were also contaminated with methane gas. MORE