An Urgent Call to Action from the Delaware Riverkeeper Network
Please sign the letter,”Tell DRBC: Permanent ban on fracking now!” Once again, shale gas development threatens the Delaware River Basin, a national treasure, and the drinking water source for 17 million people.
“There seems to be new interest on the part of DRBC staff to rekindle the development of gas development regulations, which would lift the current moratorium. We must tell the DRBC that NOW IS THE TIME to enact a permanent ban on all gas development, including drilling and fracking, in the Delaware River Watershed.” – Delaware Riverkeeper Network
Photo: Susan Phillips, NPR
TAKE ACTION:
Support the call for the Delaware River Basin Commission to adopt a ban on gas and oil development in the Delaware River Watershed. Sign on to the letter to the Governors of the four states that flow to the Delaware River and tributary streams – Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey and Delaware – and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers as the federal representative, to immediately adopt a ban on all oil and gas development in the Delaware River Watershed.
On Wednesday, February 11, 2015, Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf announced to a classroom full of Thorndale elementary students that he plans to tax shale gas drillers to pay for things like textbooks, and the laminated weather map hanging ironically on the wall behind him.
Tying education funding to a single, cyclical, heavy industry, and one with a wildly variable price at that, is bad business for the state. Wolf should know that no tax will ever begin to cover their true tab, or replace what they are presently destroying.
While he’s at it, Wolf might ask gas drillers to print up some new textbooks, too. Otherwise, Pennsylvania school children might learn about the legacy of toxic pollution that they and our legislators are leaving behind.
Despite the wildly banging gavel, The Delaware Riverkeeper Maya van Rossum would not be silenced at the March 6 Delaware River Basin Commission public hearing – not until she had given full voice to the resolution proposed by numerous environmental groups in the basin. Only then did she yield the floor, and it was to the incredible harmony of the 70 or so activists in attendance singing This Land Is Your Land.
Try as DRBC might, even with a formal acknowledgement of the March 1 letter signed by 67 organizations and a petition signed by thousands of citizens, the Commission can no longer fallback on its routine deferral of pipeline oversight. While the DRBC would continue to kick the can down the road, chainsaws are whirring, and trees are already being felled by the thousands as forests are fragmented for new pipeline routes. This is no longer acceptable to watershed stakeholders, nor was it palatable to the majority of people in that meeting room.
van Rossum delivered their message with succinct, breathtaking force:
“A failure to act is a decision not to act.”
Thank you, protestors. Thank you, Delaware Riverkeeper, for standing up for our right to a clean, safe watershed.
“Somebody has to do something to protect these waters,” Joe Zenes, Pike County PA resident. Posted by Delaware Riverkeeper Network, March 7, 2013
“The Delaware Riverkeeper Network and concerned citizens from four states vented their anger at the Delaware River Basin Commission when the agency refused to take action to regulate shale gas pipelines in the watershed. The protestors shutdown the meeting at one point.” (more…)
Take The PLEDGE To Protect The Delaware River And Its Tributaries
“These legal challenges are vital opportunities for protecting our communities from the damage that pipelines bring, as well as the devastation brought by the drilling and fracking these pipeliens induce and support.
“There are not many organizations with the resolve or the resources to pursue legal claims on behalf of the River and our communities the way the Delaware Riverkeeper Network does.”
“If the Delaware River Basin Commission, the Governors of New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware or Maryland, the President of the United States, or any of our state or national leaders permit any processes or infrastructure in support of shale gas development in any part of the Delaware River Watershed, I pledge to join with others to engage in lawful non-violent acts of protest, including demonstrations and other lawful non-violent actions, as my conscience leads me.” ~ Pledge of Protection For The Delaware River Watershed
URGENT ACTION NEEDED!
The Delaware River Basin needs protection right now. New gas drilling activities such as high pressure gas pipeline networks, slated for high value streams and tributaries, threaten to destroy the quality of our water supply. Special Protections were created for our fresh drinking water resources, yet they have been systematically eroded by a single industry – unconventional shale gas production – whose influence extends throughout Harrisburg and Washington, and along both sides of the aisle.
The Delaware River is an irreplaceable source of drinking water for 17 million people… Spills, leaks, explosions, and toxic air emissions do not belong the most productive watershed in the Northeastern United States. Don’t Let Gas Drillers Frack OUR Watershed!
The Delaware River Basin Commission (DRBC) is the only governing body standing between fracking pollution and the fresh drinking water for 15.6 million people living in the Mid-Atlantic megapolis – a full 5% of the US population. So what is the DRBC doing to protect this precious, highly productive watershed from volatile shale gas pipelines and extreme fossil fuel extraction? Lately, not much.
The DRBC is an interstate commission, which is not a common thing. It’s comprised of the governors of PA, NY, NJ and DE (or their representatives), plus a representative of the Federal Government from The Army Corps of Engineers. It was created because the citizens in these states deemed the protection of their shared freshwater resources important enough to warrant utmost oversight and protection. That was 1961.
Today, DRBC commissioners act like children with mouths full of candy. It’s difficult to get a straight answer out of them, even at their own public meetings. (more…)
The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection has held out long enough.
It’s time for the state to release the full test results from a Washington County, PA water well near a Range Resources fracking operation. It is, after all, the taxpayers who pay for such testing, and these taxpayers ought to know what pollutants have been identified in their drinking water. It’s perfectly reasonable to want to know to which toxic chemicals you have been exposed, especially when those chemicals have been intentionally omitted from your well water report by the DEP.
Now that the infamous “Suite Code 942” has been revealed, the jig is up. Am loathe to moralize, but it sure seems like the right thing to do.
“Critics suggest the purported ‘filtering’ of testing data is just one of the ways people are left in the dark about the assortment of heavy metals and other toxic contaminants that may be in their air and water as a result of drilling, hydraulic fracturing and other phases of natural gas production. Recent studies have identified more than 600 chemicals used throughout the process of natural gas production, and often left undisclosed by companies. Additionally, natural but equally hazardous substances can be released from the wells.”
Doesn’t DEP get it yet? Dismissing the drumbeats of concerned citizens only makes them louder.
The Delaware Riverkeeper Networkis asking people to please send this letter via the link on their site, or write you own, to those directly responsible for keeping this vital health information a secret. Addresses below. (more…)
A little more than halfway through the The Delaware Riverkeeper Network‘s Virtual Canoe Race, and I’m happy to say that our boat, The Green Zombies, is not in last place. Currently, Adirondacker and Pampitus have a commanding lead, with Howler paddling hard through Port Jervis and gaining fast. Shout out to Sojourn 5, in position 27 – they know it ain’t over! There’s plenty of river miles left, and we’re having a blast despite our virtual blisters. (more…)
Please join me in supporting the Delaware Riverkeeper Network’s upcoming Virtual Canoe Race.
Adults and junior paddlers can join this fun race by “virtually” paddling down the scenic, historic Delaware. Or you can simply cheer on the racers by sponsoring a “virtual canoe.”
The Delaware River is the last major free flowing river in the Eastern U.S. Unlike most major river systems, the Delaware has no dams and so it can be canoed for its entire length. The Delaware Riverkeeper Network is committed to keeping the scenic, historic Delaware River Watershed free flowing, clean and healthy.
Each week, starting with a posting on September 30, a series of multiple choice questions and extra mileage opportunities will be posted to the Race Website. You will have one week to answer all of the questions correctly. The sooner you get in the questions the more river miles you earn. The more correct answers you have the farther down the River you will paddle!
Thanks for sharing my concern for our precious watershed environments, and for getting to know this amazing organization!
“New Report Raises Red Flag for Bats from Shale Gas Drilling”
Bristol, PA – The Delaware Riverkeeper Network released a new report authored by a bat expert at Bat Conservation International considering and documenting many potential impacts shale gas development and fracking can have on bat populations living in the Delaware River watershed. According to the report, the water withdrawals, water pollution, air pollution, and massive land disturbance associated with shale gas development pose serious threats for bat populations, including the little brown bat and the federally endangered Indiana bat. The report notes that bats have been significantly impacted by White-nose Syndrome and as a result are at increased risk from human impacts such as shale gas development. The location of the Marcellus shale, now the targeted shale formation for drilling across Pennsylvania, New York and elsewhere, overlaps some of the areas hardest hit by White-nose Syndrome. (more…)
[UPDATED: May 25, 2012] Including more info on Reclassification to Exceptional Value or High Quality Stream
“The Delaware Riverkeeper Network (DRN) is petitioning the PA Department of Environmental Protection to upgrade the Upper and Middle Delaware River to Exceptional Value (EV) Quality,” states Faith Zerbe , DRN’s Water Watch Director.
To this very productive end, Delaware Riverkeepers and over 20 organizations and 300 co-petitioners have submitted a petition to to PADEP, and they are actively seeking signatures and letters of support. If you value this magnificent, historic American River, please lend your voice and sign on to the Original Petition to elevate the Delaware’s environmental, economic and social status. Demand adequate protections for drinking water today! (more…)
Coaltion-building is key to defeating the gasholes who want to Frack with the Delaware River Watershed. Luckily, we’ve got some serious NYC star-power to help fuel the movement to protect it.
“My Body of Water” is a short spot created by Citizens for Water, Damascus Citizens, Catskill Mountain Keeper, and Bone/Levine Architects, and it features Adrian Grenier, Leighton Meester, Norman Reedus, Zoe Kravitz, Sandra Bernhard, Ezra Miller, Nigel Barker, Christina Mclarty, Nev Shulman, Toure, Mehdi Nebbou, Alek Wek, Alysia Reiner, Melissa Auf Der Maur, Chris Taylor from Grizzly Bear. Thanks to Josh Fox and Faith Zerbe of Delaware Riverkeeper Network for passing it along. Enjoy!
The simplest way to ensure lasting protections for the fresh water resources of 15.6 million people is to raise the status the Upper and Middle Delaware River to “Exceptional Value” (EV). It would also help to ensure that EV or High Quality (HQ) tributary streams remain un-fragmented.At any rate, drillers seem to be getting along without having to drill in yet another precious watershed.
A statewide moratorium on new Unconventional Shale Gas Drilling permits in Pennsylvania might seem like a long-shot, but I gladly signed the Pennsylvanians for Clean Land Air and Water (CLAW) Petition. A ban on Fracking in the Delaware River Watershed ought to be more feasible, but as the CLAW signatures are rapidly accumulating, it occurs to me that maybe I’m just being cynical. (more…)
The following is a press release from The Delaware Riverkeeper Network:
Delaware Riverkeeper Resigns From Citizens Marcellus Shale Commission
For Immediate Release, Contact: Maya K. van Rossum, the Delaware Riverkeeper, 215 369 1188 ext 102
October 20, 2011, Bristol, PA – Days before the Citizens Marcellus Shale Commission is scheduled to release its final report and recommendations, Maya van Rossum, the Delaware Riverkeeper, resigned from her post as a Commissioner for the group. (more…)
XTO Energy wants to take 250,000 gallons of water per day from Oquaga Creek, a trout stream that flows to the West Branch of the Delaware River, to develop gas wells they plan to drill there. Such water depletion would tragically alter the Upper Delaware watershed region. Please sign the Delaware Riverkeepers letter to voice your opposition before the June 1 hearing in Deposit, NY. Go to:
The Delaware Riverkeeper Network seeks to protect the Delaware River. They want to see a comprehensive environmental impact study to examine how natural gas development will impact the water resources and natural assets of the Delaware River Watershed prior to any permits for gas related projects (more…)
Keep Tap Water Safe 