Concerned that a ban on fracking near the Delaware River is at risk under a Republican Congress and the Trump administration, environmental advocates called Wednesday for proactive action to protect the waterway.
A 4-year-old permanent ban against drilling in the Delaware River watershed has positively affected Easton and other communities that rely on the river for drinking water, recreation and more, supporters of the prohibition say.
But several speakers said that ban is at risk during a news conference Wednesday morning outside the Nurture Nature Center in Downtown Easton.
They said areas along the river are being targeted by “special interests,” and that the issue has the ear of President Donald Trump, EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin and U.S. Rep. Rob Bresnahan, who represents much of northeast Pennsylvania. Bresnahan criticized the Delaware River Basin Commission’s ban on fracking as part of calling for unleashing more of the region’s available energy during a March meeting with Zeldin and fracking supporters, the Delaware Riverkeeper Network said.
The environmental coalition announced an online petition asking citizens to urge those in charge to resist moves to restore hydraulic fracturing — or fracking — a technique used by the energy industry to extract oil and gas from rock by injecting high-pressure mixtures of water, sand or gravel and chemicals.
“This is a preemptive statement to say, look we know what’s going on, and we are going to protect the Delaware River Basin,” said Barbara Arrindell, director of Damascus Citizens for Sustainabilty in Wayne County, one of the areas of northeast Pennsylvania where companies sought to conduct fracking before the Delaware River Basin Commission issued a ban in February 2021. The ban followed about a decade-long moratorium the regional agency imposed to study the issue.
“We just want to be very clear with the [DRBC] commissioners that you need to stand strong and not cave to any threats,” said Maya van Rossum, who has led the Delaware Riverkeeper Network since 1994.
Last month, Bresnahan introduced legislation in the House of Representatives that would require the U.S. comptroller general to review river basin commissions throughout the Mid-Atlantic over matters such as funding sources and responsibilities to the federal government.
In a statement later Wednesday, Bresnahan said, “It is very important to realize we can take a ‘yes, and’ approach to the Delaware River Watershed.”
The congressman pointed to energy as one of the “biggest derivatives of inflation” and called fracking “one of the most efficient and effective forms of energy development.” He pointed to its economic benefits in Pennsylvania, saying it supported 123,000 jobs and $41 billion in economic growth that is invested back into local communities.
“We can support energy development while maintaining safe conservation practices, and it is my intention to do just that,” Bresnahan said.
Formed in 1961, the DRBC is made up of four states, including Pennsylvania and New Jersey, and the federal government. The commission circulates its meetings at various sites in the four member states.
Meeting later Wednesday in the Nurture Nature Center, basin commissioners did not take any action. DRBC spokesperson Beth Brown said any move to lift the ban “would be speculation,” when asked what steps would need to be taken.
The ban applies to counties in Pennsylvania’s northeastern tip, including Pike and Wayne, that are part of the nation’s largest gas field known as Marcellus Shale. Thousands of other wells have been drilled elsewhere in the vast Marcellus formation.
Van Rossum said drilling in the upper regions of the Susquehanna River watershed, where it has been allowed, and elsewhere can have a significant effect downstream because of toxic-chemical discharges into tributaries and waterways, flooding and landscape degradation. The implications of removing the ban would spill into the Lehigh Valley and south to Philadelphia, she said.
“Throughout the watershed, we have to care,” van Rossum said.
The pledge is available online at bit.ly/frackbanpledge; by emailing support@actionnetwork.org; or calling 800-833-5292.
The moratorium was in place since 2010 before the DRBC voted to permanently ban natural gas drilling and fracking near the Delaware.
Contact Morning Call reporter Anthony Salamone at asalamone@mcall.com.
