For Immediate Release
Contact: Jeff Tittel, Director, NJ Sierra Club, 609-558-9100
The Delaware River Basin Commission (DRBC) today passed a proposed fracking ban resolution. The vote was 3-1-1 with President Trump voting no and Governor Christie abstaining. Now the resolution goes into rule-making, which will take at least six months. While we support a ban on fracking, we do not support this resolution which contains dangerous language to allow fracking waste to be dumped and treated in the region, as well as taking water from the Basin for fracking. The meeting was held at Bucks County Community College, 275 Swamp Road, in Newtown, Pa. Jeff Tittel, Director of the New Jersey Sierra Club, released the following statement:
“Today the DRBC passed a fracking ban resolution despite opposition from our leaders. Banning fracking in the Delaware Valley would protect the people and environment of this important region, including the drinking water for millions. Although the Commission vote was 3-1-1, President Trump voted ‘no’ and Governor Christie abstained. That is because these fossil fuels in charge would rather support the gas companies than the people or environment of the valley. Christie and Trump are two peas in a pod; both oppose a ban that would benefit the area because they would rather support fossil fuels making money. In contrast, Ambassador Murphy, who the Sierra Club has endorsed for Governor, supports a fracking ban, along with the 65,000 people who submitted letters to the DRBC>
“Although the Sierra Club strongly supports a ban on fracking, we have major concerns with the resolution passed by the DRBC. Although it has a permanent ban on fracking in two counties, it contains language that allows dumping that same toxic waste into the valley. With this deal, the gas companies get our water and we get a superfund site. The reason we want a fracking ban is to protect the waters from toxic chemicals from fracking. Banning fracking but then allowing the dumping of fracking waste undoes the whole purpose of the ban in the first place, which is to protect our water. The DRBC also voted on the resolution before receiving public comment. The people of the Delaware Valley will have their water robbed and returned to them contaminated so that the gas companies can make money.
“You do not protect the Basin from fracking by allowing the dumping of fracking waste. This is a dirty water deal hidden behind a fracking ban. We would be better off keeping the moratorium in place in the entire basin then having a partial ban that actually allows the dumping of fracking waste. Fracking waste can contain over one hundred different chemicals, including known carcinogens and endocrine disrupters as well as cancer-causing chemicals. Fracking waste also contains harmful naturally-occurring contaminants released from deep underground in the fracking process and brought back to the surface, including radioactive materials. The DRBC needs to not only implement this ban but also be sure not to turn the Basin into a dumping ground for fracking waste water.
“The toxins in frack waste have substantially harmful health and environmental effects. There are no New Jersey treatment plants that are designed to safely process frack waste or to treat the levels of radioactivity in frack waste from Marcellus Shale formations. There could be accidental spills as fracking wastewater is being trucked to treatment plants with impacts to local communities, water bodies and groundwater. The hundreds of pollutants in frack waste are difficult and expensive to remove; many of them are unidentified since they are kept secret due to the Safe Drinking Water Act exemption. The waste is highly toxic, contains radioactive and carcinogenic materials and has caused many pollution problems where it has been discharged, such as Pennsylvania.
“Fracking in the Delaware River Basin would destroy tens of thousands of forests, open space, and wildlife habitat. At the same time, it will pollute our waterways and threaten the drinking water for 17 million people. In 2010 the DRBC prohibited permitting for natural gas extraction projects in the Delaware River Basin while they study its potential impacts on water resources, a de-facto moratorium that does not allow permits to be issued until natural gas regulations are adopted. Since 2010, the overwhelming weight of scientific evidence and on-the-ground experience where fracking has wreaked havoc prove that fracking simply isn’t safe.
“We have fought for ten years to ban fracking and the dumping of frack waste in the Basin. We will continue that fight until it becomes a permanent ban. Passing a resolution to ban fracking that allows for the dumping of fracking waste is an oxymoron. The people of the Delaware River Valley want to be protected from all forms of fracking, including the contaminated waste that comes from it. Unless they remove these dangerous additions, we will oppose this resolution and instead fight for better protections from dangerous fracking! This resolution is like buying land for open space but turning it into toxic landfill.
“We want to ban fracking in the Delaware and we do not want anyone to dump on the River either. We want the resolution to be stopped at is and then go forward without the two dangerous sections. We fought for ten years to ban fracking and will keep fighting to protect the Basin from fracking and fracking waste. We are calling on the DRBC to get the fracking ban in the resolution and remove the other points that allow the dumping and treatment of fracking waste, or taking of water out of the Basin. We want the DRBC to protect the Basin by banning all dangerous fracking activities in the entire basin. This is where Washington crossed the Delaware so Commissioners, don't double cross the Delaware with this deal!”