A proposed 20k gas wells now threaten the Delaware River via regulations to be voted on November 21, 2011 by the Delaware River Basin Commission. We must protect this important watershed from pollution created by toxic gas drilling.
The Delaware River Basin, an intergovernmental body, is about to move forward with regulations to permit fracking. This is a public health hazard and we cannot let this occur!
Two actions:
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Call the Governors and President Obama TODAY and tell them Don't Drill the Delaware, and Don't approve ANY regulations to permit fracking!
Governor Christie's office - 609-292-6000
Governor Cuomo's office - 518-474-8390
Gov Corbett's office -- 717-787-2500
Gov Markell's Wilmington Office - 302-577-3210
And the white house comment line is 202-456-1111
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Come to the DRBC meeting!
When: November 21, 8 am
Where: Patriots Theater at the War Memorial, 1 Memorial Drive Trenton, N.J.
Links to buses will be posted at Save the Delaware Sign up for email alerts at link above.
Questions?: Email - savethedelaware@gmail.com and/or continue to check back.
The members of the DRBC -- the Governors of New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Delaware and the Army Corps of Engineers as the federal representative -- will decide the future of this Watershed, the Wild and Scenic Delaware River, and the water supply for over 15 million people with their action on November 21. How can they allow drilling and fracking to start with weak regulations that don't protect our drinking water and our watersheds? We need to tell them "Don't Drill the Delaware!"
Keep checking for updates at:
Save the Delaware, Delaware River Keeper and our other supporting organizations.
Join Josh Fox and Matt Sanchez on this critical day! Now is the time to act!
Please post (and repost and repost)
WHAT? New proposed regulations quietly issued this election day would eliminate key protections and fast-track up to 20,000 hydrofracking wells in New York, New Jersey, Delaware and Pennsylvania, setting a giant precedent for even more. November 21, the Delaware River Basin Commission, composed of the states’ governors and a federal Army Corp of engineers commander, will summarily vote on the draft regulations, without public hearing or comment. The Obama administration’s representative will cast a key, swing vote. If the regulations are approved, widespread fracking could begin within months. Activists are calling November 21 “D-Day,” a day of decision dictating the fate of the Delaware. The new short film shown above by Josh Fox, writer/director of “Gasland,” highlights this new, imminent threat of fracking in the Delaware Basin. “If anyone needed evidence that our public commissions are bowing to the pressure of big business and that the democratic process in America is in trouble, this is it,” Fox said. “If President Obama votes to frack the Delaware, he will do it with the world watching and the civil strife and contamination that result will mar his legacy.” Fox and other leading experts and advocates are available for interviews now. What would fracking do to the Delaware and the Northeast, how would it impact the environment, water, homes and health, and how can citizens still weigh in on it? Ask these experts: WHO? Prominent opponents of fracking in the Delaware basin are available for interviews, including, among others: Josh Fox – Writer/director of the acclaimed film “Gaslands,” who has produced the new short film on the DRBC meeting and the imminent fracking threat to the Delaware. Rep Maurice Hinchey (D – NY) – Representing New York’s 22ndcongressional district, including the Catskills. Tracy Carluccio -- Deputy Director of the Delaware Riverkeeper Network. She has been analyzing the draft DRBC regulations issued today David Braun -- co-founder of United for Action and the National Grassroots Coalition WHERE & WHEN? These and other experts are available for in-person and phone interviews now. They are based in the Northeast and can travel as necessary. The DRBC special meeting takes place November 21, 10am at the Patriots Theater at the War Memorial, 1 Memorial Drive in Trenton, New Jersey. WHY? This is a critical, use-it-or-lose-it moment for public debate and scrutiny of fracking in the Northeast, opponents say, before it becomes a fait accompli. That’s why 350.org, Democracy for America, Earth Justice, Environmental Working Group and other groups fighting urgent environmental threats like climate change, tar sands development and mountaintop coal removal have joined with the Delaware Riverkeeper and other regional groups to launch the new Save the Delaware Campaign. Citizen opposition has kept gas drilling and hydrofracking out of the Delaware River Basin for the past three years, but the moment of truth has arrived, opponents say. Today the Delaware River Basin Commission (DRBC), composed of the governors of New York, New Jersey, Delaware and Pennsylvania and an Army Corps of Engineers commander, issued highly contested proposed hydrofracking regulations that would enable some 20,000 gas drilling wells in the Delaware watershed. Despite record-breaking numbers of public comments on previous proposals, the DBRC announced last month that on November 21, it would summarily vote on proposed regulations issued today, with no public hearing and no opportunity for public comment. Environmental advocates are now scrambling to analyze the draft regulations in the two weeks remaining before the vote, and are finding egregious problems. The proposed regulations disavow DRBC responsibility for regulating drilling or fracking of gas wells, drastically reduce setbacks from watercourses and wetlands, encourage potentially contaminated “reused” water sources for fracking, drop a former requirement for a DBRC study on wastewater treatability, make no provision for assessing cumulative impacts and include many other omissions and commissions that endanger the environment and the public. In addition to environmental advocates and residents, many state and local officials are opposed to the regulations and to fracking the historic, scenic Delaware, the last undammed river east of the Mississippi, which supplies drinking water to over 15 million people, including New York City and Philadelphia. New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman filed a federal lawsuit charging that the DBRC, with federal agency approval, proposed its fracking regulations without doing the full environmental review required by the National Environmental Policy Act. That suit is still pending. In New York, public comments are still open on proposed state regulations, and the State’s hydrofracking advisory commission decided to delay its recommendations on fracking regulations until next year. In October an expert testified before the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation that Marcellus shale gas contained high concentrations of radon and lead, and that domestic use of it will contaminate homes with unacceptably high levels. Despite these looming uncertainties, the DRBC is disallowing public comment and going ahead with the November 21 vote anyway. If it votes to approve the proposed regulations, they would replace the current moratorium on hydrofracking in the Delaware River Basin, and widespread drilling could begin within a few months, contaminating the environment, water and resident health. For further information or to book an interview, contact Stephen Kent, skent@kentcom.com, 914-589-5988 Source: Save the Delaware Campaign Contact Info: Stephen Kent, Email, Telephone:914-589-5988 Website : Save the Delaware