A regulatory agency that's responsible for the water supply of more than 13 million people in four Northeastern states voted Thursday to permanently ban natural gas drilling and fracking near a crucial waterway, asserting that gas development poses an unacceptable risk.
The Delaware River Basin Commission cited "significant immediate and long-term risks" from gas extraction, saying in a resolution that drillers have "adversely impacted surface-water and groundwater resources, including sources of drinking water, and have harmed aquatic life in some regions."
The ban applies to the entire watershed but, practically speaking, affects Wayne and Pike counties in Pennsylvania's northeastern tip. Both are part of the nation's largest gas field, the Marcellus Shale. Nearly 13,000 wells have been drilled elsewhere in the vast Marcellus formation, turning Pennsylvania into the nation's No. 2 gas-producing state.
"The fracking ban in the Delaware River Basin is a momentous victory for public health, the environment, and against climate change," said Kimberly Ong, an attorney at the Natural Resources Defense Council.
Republican state lawmakers in Pennsylvania as well as a landowners group have filed lawsuits challenging the commission's right to regulate gas development in the watershed. A lawyer for the GOP legislators accused the basin commission, which is controlled by Democrats, of trying to "game the system" by imposing a ban while the litigation is pending.
Thursday's vote to make a moratorium in place since 2010 permanent was 4-0, with the federal government's representative abstaining. The other members of the commission are the governors of Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey and Delaware, or their designees.
Drilling opponents have long contended that large-scale gas exploration could not be done safely so close to crucial waterways and renowned fisheries. The Delaware and its tributaries supply drinking water to Philadelphia, half the population of New York City and many other locales.