LIVINGSTON MANOR – Environmental
organizations and residents up and down the Delaware River Valley urged
the Delaware River Basin Commission on Wednesday to permanently ban gas
drilling and fracking in the river basin. They say the watershed is critical
to the health and environmental safety of the region.
Cathy Nolan, senior research director of the Catskill Mountainkeeper organization based in Livingston Manor, noted the commission imposed a moratorium on fracking several years ago, but unless it imposes a permanent ban, that could open the door for the practice in the future.
“Leaving the moratorium in place leads to the possibility that the gas industry can come at any point and ask to move forward and then it becomes kind of an emergency decision. We think it is better to take a good look now with all of the information that has accumulated over the past five to 10 years about the harmful effects of hydrofracking,” Nolan said.
The DRBC, headquartered in Trenton, NJ, is a multi-state agency, put into place in 1961 to protect and manage the resources of the Delaware. The participating states are New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Delaware along with the Army Corps of Engineers.
