JACKSON (AP) - Gov. Dave Freudenthal told natural gas producers he would work to speed permitting and access to federal lands but also promised more enforcement of environmental rules.

"I'm more than willing to work to make sure that the federal resources are available. I'm more than willing to streamline, speed up permitting," he said at the seventh annual Wyoming Natural Gas Fair at Snow King Center.

"The flip side of that is, I intend to make sure that we have water quality standards (and) enforcement."

Freudenthal said he will ask the Legislature for more money to increase staff in the Department of Environmental Quality and State Engineer's Office.

More staff could speed permitting of new wells and increase enforcement, he said.

"It makes no sense to have 5,000 permits issued in the basin that has one inspector," he said.

Enforcement will ensure Wyoming protects its quality of life while capitalizing on the energy boom, Freudenthal said.

He said he wanted to ensure that "at the end you say, 'This was a good thing for the state when the boom was on, and this is a good thing for the state when the boom was gone.' "

Freudenthal said he is pushing for greater access by drillers to federal lands and was critical of the Forest Service for keeping in place a rule preventing road-building in designated roadless areas.

The rule, issued in the final days of the Clinton administration, limits timber harvesting and other development on 58 million acres of remote forest land controlled by the Forest Service.

U.S. District Judge Clarence Brimmer issued a ruling July 14 invalidating the roadless rule. That decision has been appealed.

Wyoming is one of the few states where natural gas production is increasing. The state rose to fifth in the nation for production last year and had the largest production increase, according to Don Likwartz, supervisor of the Oil and Gas Conservation Commission.

The Pinedale Anticline and Jonah Field, south of Pinedale, are among the largest gas fields in Wyoming.

But Likwartz said there is "a little cloud on the horizon" for Jonah, which is going to reach its maximum number of permitted wells by the middle of 2004.

The U.S. Bureau of Land Management has sped an environmental analysis to permit more wells, but if that is not approved by July 4, new drilling will stop, Likwartz said.

Conservationists, however, have been critical of the fast-paced drilling and potential impacts to air quality and wildlife.