Key Delaware River gas drilling vote postponed

www.timesleader.com/news/ap?Key-Delaware-River-gas-drilling-vote-postponed&a=2209283&e=30097

TRENTON, N.J. (AP) — With two of five members opposed, a multistate agency that has spent years developing regulations for natural gas drilling in the Delaware River watershed has delayed a key vote scheduled for Monday.

The Delaware River Basin Commission announced Friday it was postponing a vote on hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, to give the agency’s five commissioners more time to review the draft regulations. No new meeting date has been set.

The rules need three votes to pass, though the commission had been hoping for unanimous support.

Delaware Gov. Jack Markell told the commission Thursday that he would not support the regulations because of concerns over drinking water protections. Earlier, New York had announced it would vote no. New Jersey and Pennsylvania had not announced how they would vote, but it was believed both would vote yes. It’s not known how the fifth member, the federal Army Corps of Engineers, was planning to vote.

Fracking involves injecting water, sand and chemicals underground to break up shale and rock, releasing natural gas.

The commission manages water use for the Delaware River Basin, and environmentalists say the drilling would threaten drinking water for 15 million people.

The proposed rules would allow 300 natural gas wells in the Delaware River Basin, followed by a commission review before more are phased in. The eventual total could reach many thousands of wells.

Pennsylvania already allows drilling outside the watershed area. New Jersey has no Marcellus shale, so its interest in the issue revolves around water quality.

The federal Environmental Protection Agency is studying the effects of fracking, with a draft report due next year.

Environmental groups have gathered more than 73,000 signatures on a petition opposing drilling in the watershed.