HARRISBURG — Gov. Ed Rendell said Tuesday he would sign a bill calling for a temporary halt in new leasing of state forest lands for natural-gas exploration if it reaches his desk.

Rendell took a stand on the legislation after announcing a $120 million deal giving Houston-based Anadarko Petroleum the right to drill on 33,000 acres in north-central Pennsylvania — mostly land surrounded by leased tracts that already are being used for gas operations — that lies over the Marcellus Shale.

The Anadarko payment and the expected carry-over of $68 million in lease revenue from the fiscal year that ends June 30 will surpass state officials' target of $180 million in drilling revenue to help balance the 2010-11 state budget, Rendell said.

"This is a reasonable approach that meets our revenue targets and limits the impact of additional natural-gas exploration in our state forests," he said.

A bill to impose a three-year moratorium on the leasing of state forest land for natural gas drilling while the environmental implications are studied was approved by a lopsided margin in the Democrat-controlled House earlier this month. It awaits action in the Republican-led Senate.

Rendell is advocating a severance tax on natural gas extracted in Pennsylvania to cash in on Marcellus Shale, after conceding that debate in last year's budget negotiations.

In a related development, Pennsylvania Common Cause released a study that shows campaign contributions and lobbying expenditures from drilling interests have spiked as the Marcellus Shale drilling intensifies in Pennsylvania. The watchdog group said the trend is likely working against efforts to tax and regulate the activity.

"Even Sarah Palin's Alaska, Dick Cheney's Wyoming and George Bush's Texas all have a severance tax," said state Rep. David Levdansky, an Allegheny County Democrat who is co-sponsoring the moratorium bill and who took part in the news conference.

Campaign contributions from the natural-gas industry since 2001 in Pennsylvania total nearly $3 million, benefiting GOP candidates and officeholders more than Democrats, Common Cause said.

Also, since Pennsylvania's lobbyist-disclosure law took effect three years ago, industry lobbying expenditures have climbed from less than $150,000 in the first quarter of 2007 to more than $700,000 in the first three months of 2010, the group said.

The biggest beneficiary of the campaign contributions was state Attorney General Tom Corbett, the GOP front-runner heading into next week's primary, who took in more than $360,000 — nearly all of it since 2008, according to Common Cause.

"The drillers have clear favorite in the 2010 gubernatorial race, which is Tom Corbett," James Browning, a co-author of the study, said at a Pittsburgh news conference.

Unlike most of the other gubernatorial candidates, Corbett also has taken a stand against imposing any severance tax on natural gas extracted in Pennsylvania.

Corbett campaign manager Brian Nutt said the industry contributions have not influenced Corbett's stance on drilling issues.

"People are supporting Tom Corbett because they believe he'll do what's right" in terms of promoting activities that create badly needed jobs and protecting the environment, Nutt said.

Corbett believes a moratorium is unnecessary because it's the Department of Environmental Protection's job to deal with the environmental implications of drilling, Nutt said.

Senate Majority Leader Dominic Pileggi said the Senate has not held a hearing on the moratorium bill. He questioned the logic of halting drilling on public lands while the same activity is allowed to continue on private property.