By Kathryne Rubright, Pocono Record

Fracking has been banned on 13,539 square miles of land surrounding the Delaware River following a 4-0 vote Thursday by the Delaware River Basin Commission.

The ban is a long-sought win for environmental activists and a defeat to some landowners in the watershed who would have liked to profit from the natural gas below their properties.

Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection Secretary Patrick McDonnell, alternate for Gov. Tom Wolf, voted in favor of the new regulations, along with alternates for Gov. John Carney of Delaware, Gov. Phil Murphy of New Jersey and Gov. Andrew Cuomo of New York.

The federal representative, Brigadier Patrick McDonnell, commander and division engineer of the North Atlantic Division of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, abstained, citing the need for more time to coordinate with the new Biden administration.

Reading a statement from the governor, McDonnell said Wolf is “proud to join with other DRBC commissioners in preserving the water resources of this unique region for generations to come.”

By a 5-0 vote, the DRBC also approved a resolution to start a rulemaking process regarding the exportation of water for fracking elsewhere, and the importation of fracking wastewater, issues activists including the Delaware River Frack Ban Coalition have pushed to see addressed.

The watershed includes all or part of 17 Pennsylvania counties, seven of which sit entirely or partly over the Marcellus Shale that can be fractured by millions of gallons of water to extract natural gas: Carbon, Monroe, Lackawanna, Luzerne, Pike, Schuylkill and Wayne.

Officially, the DRBC had not imposed a moratorium on fracking, but in practice, the ban is a continuation of the past decade. The commission voted in 2010 to put off considering well pad dockets until regulations were adopted, and no fracking applications have been submitted since, “a situation that has sometimes been referred to as a ‘de facto moratorium,’” the DRBC said in an FAQ on the new regulations.

The vote was in line with the governors’ previously stated positions. Wolf, Carney and Murphy had expressed support for fully banning fracking in the Delaware River basin, and New York has already banned fracking.

Environmental reaction

Environmental groups across the watershed, which includes parts of Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey and Delaware, applauded the move while making clear they’d like to see more action on water and wastewater.

“This is a watershed moment for protecting one of America’s most iconic watersheds. Fracking shouldn’t be allowed anywhere, much less near an iconic natural waterway like the Delaware River, which provides drinking water for so many,” said David Masur, executive director of the environmental advocacy group PennEnvironment in a statement issued after the vote.

“The data is conclusive: From cradle to grave, fracking puts the health of our planet and our communities at risk. By banning this toxic practice in such a vital and beloved watershed, regional leaders are taking strong action to protect millions of people,” Masur said.

In addition to protecting drinking water, the move protects a river that is vital to tourism, Halle Van der Gaag, senior manager for Pennsylvania and Delaware Programs for the National Parks Conservation Association.

“The number of visitors at parks along the Delaware River, notably at Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area, has skyrocketed as the pandemic stretches on. More people are getting outside at our parks, and they deserve safe access and clean water,” Van der Gaag said in a statement, going on to highlight the economic impact.

“This river is more than a tourist destination; it’s the economic lifeblood for many surrounding communities and local businesses. In 2019, Delaware Water Gap and the Upper Delaware Scenic & Recreational River welcomed more than 3 million visitors, whose spending in the area generated nearly $130 million in economic activity. It is imperative that we protect our parks, our resources, and the people who love and depend on them from the devastating environmental impacts of fracking.”

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PennFuture also commended the DRBC’s action on fracking, adding “the fight isn’t over yet.”

“Because the DRBC withdrew its proposed regulations regarding interbasin water transfers and fracking wastewater treatment within the basin, and instead plans to issue new regulations for public comment by September of this year, PennFuture will review those regulations and will explore all of our options to ensure that the Commission’s regulations are fully protective of water quality,” the advocacy group’s president and CEO, Jacquelyn Bonomo, said in a statement.

Other groups including the Delaware Riverkeeper Network, PennEnvironment and Catskill Mountainkeeper signaled their intent to keep working on water and wastewater issues.

Joseph Minott, Clean Air Council’s Executive Director and Chief Counsel said is goup was “ thrilled that the DRBC listened to the public and banned fracking in the Delaware River Watershed once and for all. We welcome DRBC’s next steps to complete its fracking ban by prohibiting water withdrawals needed for fracking as well as the disposal of toxic fracking wastewater in the watershed.” 

“Today’s ban on fracking in the Delaware River basin is a huge deal, and a testament to the persistence and dedication of grassroots activists in a battle that has lasted over a decade,” said Eric Benson, NJ Campaigns Director, Clean Water Action.

Jeff Tittel, director of the New Jersey Sierra Club, called Thursday’s move “the first step towards a full ban.”

“Today they took an important step forward, and we are glad that they have committed to a full ban,” he said. “We’ll be glad to work with them to do additional rules to ban the treatment and dumping of fracking wastewater in the Basin or taking water for fracking elsewhere. This will help protect public health and the River from more contamination.”

Business and industry reaction

David Callahan, president of Marcellus Shale Coalition, a natural gas industry group, called the ban a violation of property rights.

“The Commission’s blatant disregard for scientific evidence and bodies of independent research – including from the neighboring Susquehanna River Basin where continuous water quality and quantity monitors have shown no impact from shale development – further demonstrates the purely political nature of this action,” Callahan said.

He pointed to a 2015 report from the Susquehanna River Basin Commission that did not find correlations between well pad density and several water quality indicators.

The DRBC cited reports from the New York Department of Environmental Conservation, which found that “there are potential significant adverse environmental and public health impacts associated with high-volume hydraulic fracturing operations” and the U.S. Environmental protection agency, which while noting “data gaps and uncertainties” concluded that fracking “can impact drinking water resources under some circumstances.”

Gene Barr, president and CEO of the Pennsylvania Chamber of Business and Industry, called the outcome “a political decision uninformed by science.”

Tickner’s abstention was “extremely disappointing,” Barr said, “given the national energy security implications of reduced domestic energy development and President Biden’s stated commitment to reducing emissions and re-shoring manufacturing. With our economy reeling due to the pandemic and associated lockdown measures, and recent events highlighting how imperative energy production is, this is no time to let irresponsible voices carry the day and impede energy development.” 

The DRBC meeting can be viewed below, or on the commission’s YouTube channel.

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