Water quality and quantity regulator (Delaware River Basin Commission) to make final decision Feb 25 on permanent drill & frac ban in Delaware River watershed.

Agency to take action on fracking ban near Delaware River by Associated Press, Feb 18, 2021

WEST TRENTON, N.J. (AP) — A regulatory agency that’s responsible for the water supply for more than 13 million people is poised to take final action on a permanent ban on gas drilling and hydraulic fracturing in the Delaware River watershed.

The Delaware River Basin Commission announced Wednesday that it will vote on the proposal at a public meeting on Feb. 25.

The commission, which regulates water quality and quantity in the Delaware and its tributaries, first imposed a moratorium on drilling and fracking — the technique that unleashed a U.S. production boom in shale gas and oil — more than a decade ago. It began the process of enacting a permanent ban in 2017. The ban would apply to two counties in Pennsylvania’s northeastern tip that are part of the nation’s largest gas field, the Marcellus Shale.

Republican state lawmakers in Pennsylvania as well as a landowners group are challenging the commission’s right to regulate gas development in court. The agency has representatives from New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Delaware and the federal government.

Refer also to:

2021 01 15: Pennsylvania GOP lawmakers sue over Delaware River drilling ban, Two Republicans claim Delaware River Basin Commission overstepped its authority and usurped the Legislature with its moratorium on natural gas development

2011: Another Blow To Dirty Energy: Fracking Nixed In The Delaware River Basin

2011: Lawsuit charges that an analysis must be completed and environmental impacts understood before drilling moves forward in the Delaware River Basin.

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