Delaware River Basin Commission May Become Roadblock for Drilling in Wayne County, PA and Other Watershed Counties

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The City of Philadelphia is voicing their concerns to the Delaware River Basin Commission (DRBC) about Stone Energy’s request to hydraulically fracture two previously drilled wells in Wayne County, PA. Stone has also made a request to the Commission to withdraw up to 700,000 gallons of water from the West Branch of the Lackawaxen River in Mount Pleasant Township for drilling. Philly’s 17-member City Council voted unanimously to ask the DRBC to not approve the drilling permits until an environmental impact study can be done first.

An environmental impact study, an intensive and time-consuming endeavor, would determine whether natural gas drilling poses a legitimate threat to the Delaware River watershed, a 13,539-square-mile area that encompasses nearly all of Wayne County and is known for its pristine water quality and world-class trout waters.

Commission spokesman Clarke Rupert said Monday the regulator is considering conducting such a study. A decision on a $250,000 appropriation request by the commission is not expected until late 2010.*

In addition to permission from the State Department of Environmental Protection, drillers in the Delaware River Basin watershed area also need permission from the DRBC before they can drill. If the DRBC is not going to make a decision about whether or not to spend $250K on a study “until late 2010,” and if that study is a “time-consuming endeavor,” that means Stone’s request to drill will not be approved until sometime in 2011 at the earliest.

If you’re a landowner (or driller) in Wayne County, or in other counties located in the Delaware River Basin, you may be in for major delays before drilling begins. Let’s hope the DRBC speeds the process along.

*Water World (Mar 30) – Philadelphia dives in to gas drilling issue in Wayne County

2 Comments

  1. Philadelphia like New York City does not have a water filtration facility for it’s drinking water,a situation that logical minded people find criminal in its nature.
    Fort Worth ranks 6th in water purity among American cities,while New York and Philidelpia are much lower. Fort Worth is a city on the Branett shale gas formation,which is highly hydrofracked under the city itself.Gas wells have been drilled ,and put into production within the city. Yet there is no pollution from fracking of Fort Worths drinking water?
    New York has cited bugetary constrains for not providing this health insuring facility for it’s
    beleagured citizens. The same is true for Philadelphia.
    Both New York City and Philidelphia are not on the Marcellus shale,so lets get landowners to pay for what their currupt politicians failed to provide decades ago. Science and facts do not support this politicaly motivated antihydrofracking cotroversy,but following the money shows ulterior motive.

  2. ADG1984, learn the facts before you pontificate. Fracking has been proven, time and time again, to be an extremely dangerous undertaking. According to the US Geological Survey, there is a causal link between fracking and earthquakes (OklahomaCity, for example), not to mention the proven track record of land, air and water contamination. Have you not seen GASLAND? Stop watching Fox News and do some research, for god’s sake. The evidence is overwhelming and there is no longer any question that fracking has deadly consequences. If you don’t believe the evidence, I suggest you travel to some gas drilling sites and see for yourself. Talk to the people who live there. They will tell you the truth.