Delaware River basin gas drilling meeting delayed

www.philly.com/philly/news/pennsylvania/131370968.html
By Sandy Bauers
Inquirer Staff Writer
Posted on Sat, Oct. 8, 2011

The Delaware River Basin Commission on Friday postponed until Nov. 21 a meeting to consider regulations that would allow natural gas drilling in the basin. The new date is a month later than planned.
The commission, a federal and interstate agency, oversees the basin, which provides drinking water for 15 million people, including Philadelphia and some suburbs. It has put a moratorium on drilling until rules can be adopted.

The commission said it needed more time to prepare for the meeting, expected to be the site of a major protest.

Regulations were proposed in December, and by the time a public-comment period ended in April, the commission had received 69,000 submissions.

Some commission members had pushed for swift action. The New Jersey representative threatened to withhold state funding of the agency if it did not act at its September meeting.

But shortly before the September meeting, the commission announced it could not finish the job in time. A special meeting was announced for Oct. 21.

The commission says it’s still not ready. “Additional time is necessary to complete the ongoing process,” a release issued Friday said.

Other members of the commission are Pennsylvania, New York, Delaware, and the federal government, represented by the Army Corps of Engineers.

The gas-rich Marcellus Shale formation underlies the upper portion of the river basin. But the river and many tributaries there are under special protection because of their high water quality.

Critics have been angered by the possibility the commission would present revised regulations and vote on them at the same meeting.

The commission says the postponement will allow it to publish the modified regulations on its website on Nov. 7, two weeks before the expected vote.

No public comment will be taken at the meeting, the release said.

In August, environmental groups filed a federal lawsuit contending that the commission should not adopt any regulations until a broad cumulative-impact study is completed. New York, which will not allow drilling until state regulations are adopted, filed a similar action in June.

New Jersey State Police confirmed that a permit had been issued for protesters to demonstrate outside the meeting. The permit application estimated 500 people would participate.

Within the last few days, Facebook and Twitter accounts for “OccupyDRBC” – an offshoot of the Occupy Wall Street protests – have been formed.

The Nov. 21 meeting will run from 10 a.m. to noon at the War Memorial in Trenton