Can A Watershed Get A Little Respect?
[Updated]
Few headlines instill more angst among Delaware River watershed activists than the one I read this morning:
Wayne County Commissioners Urge Quick End To Drilling Ban by Steve McConnell, The Times-Tribune, June 22, 2013.
Who are these people? And why do they think they have the right to force a heavily industrial deep shale extraction process into a highly protected watershed which supplies drinking water to 17 million people from New York City to Wilmington, Delaware? It would seem this handful of county commissioners is ready to risk it all, for roughly 5% of the U.S. population, while shushing valid environmental concerns with the vague promise of jobs. Who’s gonna want the jobs if you can’t drink the water?
Tell DRBC: Pennsylvania’s Last Frack-Free Watershed Deserves A Permanent Ban!
Did you know that the Delaware River watershed is nicknamed “The Little Giant” because it’s so darn productive? Fraccidents, such as those tracked by EarthJustice on the Fracking Across The United States page, include spills, leaks, explosions, blow outs, blow offs and leaky valves. They’re in addition to new webs of pipelines, widespread deforestation, elevated chlorides and tds levels in surface water, and tons of unregulated air emissions entering the hydrological cycle. Shale gas production in the Delaware, which already generates $22 billion, will deplete water quantity and compromise water quality, and that’s before drillers have dealt with their millions of gallons of briny, toxic, radioactive waste.
Pennsylvania is the second most ‘water rich’ state in the U.S., after Alaska, yet there are now hundreds of families in Pennsylvania who have no water because their water sources have been damaged, destroyed or sucked dry after gas drilling activities arrived nearby. Recently, Amy Mall reported on a new study of fracking in Pennsylvania in Data Indicate Water Pollution From Shale Gas Operations In Pennsylvania, June 11, 2013.
The study shows an increase in chloride and concentrations of total suspended solids downstream. Scary stuff.
Karen Feridun, founder of Berks Gas Truth, urges everyone who relies on this watershed to take the THE PLEDGE TO PROTECT THE DELAWARE RIVER WATERSHED!
“Residents in Wayne County are urging the DRBC to lift the moratorium on #shale drilling/#fracking in the Delaware River watershed. if you have not yet taking the pledge to protect the Delaware River, all of its tributaries, forests, habitats and communities from such desecration please take a moment and do so now — and urge your friends to as well.”
The Delaware River currently provides ample high quality, frack-free drinking water, but the watershed is already seeing more than its share of new gas pipelines and infrastructure.
The Delaware River Basin Commission (DRBC) was charged with the mission of protecting this invaluable, shared fresh water resource. DRBC has yet to commission a single study on drilling impacts, pipelines or anything else. They should refrain from approving gas drilling in the basin unless they can prove it’s safe – which they can’t. At any rate, the onus is on them.
“We only know the worth of water when the well is dry.” ~ Ben Franklin
Please write, call or email the DRBC today, and tell them to keep industrial shale gas drilling out of the Delaware River Basin. Ask them to extend the moratorium indefinitely, or institute a permanent ban.
Carol Collier, Director
Delaware River Basin Commission
25 State Police Drive, PO Box 7360
West Trenton, NJ 08628
carol.collier@drbc.state.nj.us
tel. (609) 883-9500
fax (609) 883-9522
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Sign on today!
PLEDGE TO PROTECT THE DELAWARE RIVER WATERSHED
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Want to do more t fight drilling in the Delaware River Basin? These groups can help you get started:
Food and Water Watch – Fracking Action Center
Pennsylvania Clean Water Action
Tags: Delaware River Basin, DRBC, Water
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