When in comes to keeping track of the Marcellus gas boom in Butler County, maybe we’re simply taking the wrong direction.

Gas regulation is a state issue, but as a state audit report released one week ago demonstrated, the state Department of Environmental Resources is struggling to keep up with the industry. The audit report’s data was already two years old when the report was published, and a regulatory overhaul rendered much of the data completely out of date.

Measurable information about the rapidly growing Marcellus gas trade is emerging much more slowly than the industry itself, according to the report. Problems are identified and remedied long before they’re reported to the public; and there’s an uneasiness all around that nobody knows for sure where the gas industry is heading, both as an economic boost and an environmental risk.

The more than 150-page report, covering a four-year period ending in 2012, further criticizes the DEP for:

• Lacking a clear policy on the timeliness and frequency of inspections of the thousands of wells.

• Failing to routinely verify information the industry provides about waste disposal.

• Doing a poor job of communicating with citizens who file complaints about drilling-related water problems.

• Lacking a reliable system for tracking citizen complaints.

• Failing to make information about individual wells easily accessible to the public.

Here’s a novel suggestion for a remedy: appoint an employee of Butler County to act as a coordinator of gas industry information within the county.

An individual in an existing county department could be tasked with coordinating information from gas well operators in the county: what leases they hold, where they are drilling, where they plan to drill, where they have existing wells, and production levels of each well.

This individual also would coordinate with the state Department of Environmental Resources to help stay up to date with permits approved and pending, citizen complaints, DEP citations, administrative judgments and regulatory actions involving gas drillers.

The appointee could act as a clearing house for the industry, county residents, the media and municipal officials regarding all information pertaining to gas exploration and production within Butler County.

A county office of gas well information could become adept at spotting county-level trends before they emerge as statewide trends. It could conceivably help make policy changes that benefit the industry, residents living near wells and the environment. Vital, real-time data could give the industry a leg up in Butler County while at the same time giving county residents an enhanced level of assurance about health and environmental protection.

The initiative can be paid for using revenue from Marcellus Shale gas impact fees paid by the drillers to the state. Butler County and its municipalities received $3.65 million in impact fees in 2013.

The concept is not to replace the DEP or usurp its authority; rather, it’s to get a clearer picture of what’s happening with gas drilling in Butler County, and to get it more quickly than the state can provide it.

Or, we can just wait for the information to trickle down from the state level. If we’re patient.