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DRBC Business Meeting

Please join us at the Sept. 13 Delaware River Basin Commission (DRBC) business meeting to demand a ban on fracking, a ban on the processing and discharge of wastewater produced by fracking, and a ban on water withdrawals to fuel fracking throughout the Delaware River Watershed.You can sign up to speak during the public comment or simply join the group at the meeting. We'll gather to livestream our demands after the meeting.

 

SIGN UP TO SPEAK HERE.

What:
Delaware River Basin Commission business meeting with public comment session
When:
Thursday, Sept. 13, 10:30 am
Where:
RiverWinds Community Center, 1000 RiverWinds Drive, Thorofare, NJ 08086

Our communities are fighting for a COMPLETE and permanent ban in the face of draft regulations issued by the Delaware River Basin Commission (DRBC) last November, followed by a public comment period through March 31, 2018 that attracted more than 40,000 individual comments. The Draft regulations propose to ban hydraulic fracturing throughout the Delaware River Basin but would allow frack wastewater to be imported and stored, processed, and discharged in the Basin and would allow water to be exported to fuel fracking outside of the Watershed. The DRBC Commissioners are expected to vote on the proposed regulations this year.

SIGN UP TO SPEAK HERE.

Background:
Since 2010 the DRBC has prohibited natural gas extraction projects in the Delaware River Basin while they study its potential impacts on water resources, a de-facto moratorium that does not allow permits to be issued until natural gas regulations are adopted.

A mounting call by the public for transforming the current moratorium on natural gas drilling, fracking and related activities in the Delaware River Watershed into a permanent ban has resulted in the proposed fracking ban but the DRBC also included the allowance of frack wastewater discharges and the withdrawal of fresh water for fracking, as instructed by a resolution passed by the DRBC Commissioners at their September 13, 2017 public business meeting. The draft regulations were required to be issued by Nov. 30.

Since 2010, scientific analyses, public health statistics, peer-reviewed studies, and government records show that the impacts of gas and oil development significantly harm the environment including our water, air, habitats and communities’ health, despite regulatory controls. The experience of communities where fracking is occurring are the proliferation of adverse health impacts due to gas drilling and fracking operations and its inherent air and water pollution. The overwhelming weight of the evidence shows that shale gas cannot be extracted or developed safely, making this the right time to enact a Watershed ban on all gas development.

The five voting members – the Commissioners - of the DRBC are the Governors of the four states whose tributaries flow to the Delaware - Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey and Delaware – and the Army Corps of Engineers, representing the federal government. As an autonomous agency formed under federal law to manage the shared waters of the Basin, the Commission members are responsible for protecting the drinking water supplies of up to 17 million people, including New York City and Philadelphia, and the federally designated Wild and Scenic Delaware River.

Date: 
Thursday, September 13, 2018 - 10:30 AM