Environmental Groups File Suit to Stop Delaware River Basin Commission from Implementing Natural Gas Regulations without Environmental Review
Riverkeeper, Delaware Riverkeeper Network, and National Parks Conservation Association filed a lawsuit on August 4, 2011 against the Delaware River Basin Commission (DRBC) and the United States Army Corps of Engineers (Army Corps) for their failure to comply with federal law by proposing natural gas drilling regulations without first conducting a full environmental review as required under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). The suit was filed in U.S. District Court in Brooklyn, New York, where the Army Corps office is located.
The Delaware River is the largest free flowing river east of the Mississippi and its water quality is exceptional. The Delaware portion of the New York City watershed provides half of the unfiltered drinking water supply that nine million New Yorkers depend on every day. Riverkeeper believes that this critical resource should not be put at risk by allowing drilling to proceed in the Basin before a complete environmental impact assessment has been carried out as the basis for developing the most effective regulations possible. Absent that review, there is no assurance that the regulations the DRBC is poised to finalize will be adequate to control a risky industrial activity that has already caused documented environmental and human health impacts in other states, including Pennsylvania.
“No one’s drinking water should be sacrificed in the rush to pursue exploitation of methane gas deposits that have existed for millions of years,” said Kate Hudson, Riverkeeper’s Watershed Program Director.
Nearly 36% of the Delaware River Watershed is covered by the Marcellus Shale formation. Earlier this year, the DRBC proposed new regulations for natural gas development within the Delaware River Basin without first conducting an environmental impact analysis. As a federal agency, the DRBC must comply with NEPA by considering the cumulative environmental impacts of their proposed action, and inform the public that they have carefully analyzed these impacts in its decision-making process.