Reuters: A top Pennsylvania Republican rejected a Democratic-sponsored plan for taxing natural gas production on Wednesday, vowing to stop a bill that he said would drive energy companies out of the state. The opposition will force Governor Ed Rendell, a Democrat, to seek a compromise between Democratic and Republic plans. Sen. Joseph Scarnati said a bill proposing to tax gas drillers 39 cents per 1,000 cubic feet of gas produced was “totally unacceptable” and that it would not even go …