Lawmakers in the Pennsylvania Senate square off in federal court over the fracking ban approved by the Delaware River Basin Commission.

By John L. Micek, Editor, Pennsylvania Capital-Star In a local story with national implications, Republicans and Democrats in the state Senate are waging legal war over a regional regulatory agency’s decision to impose a de facto moratorium on natural gas drilling in the Delaware River basin. On Monday, Senate Democrats announced they’d been granted a motion to intervene in the January lawsuit filed by Sens. Gene Yaw, R-Lycoming, and Lisa Baker, R-Luzerne, along with the Senate Republican Caucus, challenging the Delaware River Basin Commission’s decade-old policy, arguing the agency had usurped the Legislature by imposing its moratorium.  “My colleagues and I are participating in this lawsuit to preserve the authority of the Delaware River Basin Commission to protect the drinking water of more than 13 million individuals,” Sen. Steve Santarsiero, a Bucks County Democrat whose district runs along the riverfront, said in a statement “Working within its authority, the DRBC has been taking critical steps to protect both the waterways in the Delaware River Basin and our land from the harmful effects of fracking.” Some background: After imposing its de facto moratorium in 2010, the commission voted Feb. 25 to formally ban fracking in the basin, StateImpact Pennsylvania, an environmental news outlet, reported at the time. All four of the commission’s member states: Delaware, New Jersey, New York, and Pennsylvania, joined in the action.  Read the full story