Wayne County

Whatever happened to the lawsuit filed by a Wayne County, PA landowner against the egregious overreach by the Delaware River Basin Commission (DRBC) in its ongoing stall/delay/block of any shale drilling within the Basin? In March, MDN reported that U.S. District Judge Robert Mariani ruled against the Wayne landowner in a lawsuit that challenged the right of the DRBC to stop fracking in the Delaware River Basin (see Judge Tosses Wayne County, PA Landowner Lawsuit Against DRBC). At first blush, it may seem like a setback for landowners in Wayne and Pike Counties who have been denied the right to lease and allow drilling under their land for the past 10 years. But looks can be deceiving. As we pointed out in our article, if you read the judge’s decision, he harpoons all of the DRBC’s legal arguments, but in the end rules against the landowner. Why? Because the judge wanted to send the case to a higher court for an ultimate decision–the 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals. In fact, Judge Mariani set up the appeal of the case perfectly, we’d say intentionally, and that has the DRBC and their cohorts at THE Delaware Riverkeeper really nervous (see Wayne Co. Landowner Welcomes Decision in Dismissed DRBC Lawsuit). We have an update. The Wayne landowners filed their court brief in an appeal of the case yesterday. The case turns on the concept of what constitutes a “project” for the DRBC. The DRBC claims that all gas well pads, drilling, etc.–anything that uses water within the Basin–is a “project” as defined under the original compact forming the DRBC, and therefore under their jurisdiction. The lawsuit (an excellent read, full copy below) states such a reading of the original compact, and based on 40 years of history since that time, says otherwise. Just because you push dirt around and use some water, does not mean that activity falls under the DRBC’s current overreach in defining a project. The lawsuit askes the 3rd Circuit to rule on what is, and what is not, a project for the DRBC…
Read More “Wayne County Landowner Files Brief in Case Against DRBC Frack Ban”

Wikipedia: “The Iron Curtain was the name for the boundary dividing Europe into two separate areas from the end of World War II in 1945 until the end of the Cold War in 1991. A term symbolizing the efforts by the Soviet Union to block itself and its satellite states from open contact with the West and non-Soviet-controlled areas. On the east side of the Iron Curtain were the countries that were connected to or influenced by the Soviet Union.” There is an “economic Iron Curtain” in Wayne County, PA–a curtain imposed by the Delaware River Basin Commission, or DRBC (equivalent to the Soviet Union in our metaphor). The DRBC refuses to allow shale well drilling and fracking in the Delaware River Basin, while next door in the Susquehanna River Basin such activity has been going great guns for years. As we previously reported, one brave landowner in Wayne County is fighting, in court, to rip down the DRBC Iron Curtain (see Wayne Co. Landowner Welcomes Decision in Dismissed DRBC Lawsuit). Here’s an update on efforts to defeat the Evil Empire… Read More “Time to Tear Down the DRBC’s Iron Curtain in Pennsylvania”