Alert: Stop Unregulated Gas Drilling in the Delaware River Watershed
An unregulated drilling technique is putting the water supply for Trenton, Phillipsburg and many South Jersey towns at risk and we need your help to protect it. (Click this link to send an e-mail message and to take other actions!)
Natural gas drilling in the Marcellus Shale (PA & NY) is threatening to pollute New Jersey’s drinking water for a million and a half people and to deforest the Delaware River watershed. A new process called hydrofracking , injects chemicals into millions of gallons of clean water to drill horizontally for natural gas. The chemical mixture that remains is difficult to treat and risks seeping in to our drinking water.
Come join the NJ Sierra Club and the Delaware Riverkeeper next Wednesday (7/14/10) to rally outside of a Delaware River Basin Commission Meeting on this important issue. Until federal regulations for hydrofracking are set our organizations are asking for a complete moratorium on all natural gas projects in the Marcellus Shale.
What: Rally at Delaware River Basin Commission Public Meeting
When: 1:00 p.m., Wednesday, July 14
Where: West Trenton Volunteer Fire Company http://www.wtvfc.org/directions.htm
40 West Upper Ferry Road, Ewing, NJ 08628-2714 (609) 883-0325
Why: We need a complete and total moratorium on all natural gas projects in the Delaware River Watershed until the comprehensive study of the cumulative impact of gas projects is completed and all regulations are adopted. It’s urgent that we act to preserve the high water quality of the Delaware River.
The Deepwater Horizon spill in the Gulf is a daily reminder what can happen when energy companies go unregulated. Tell the DRBC we don’t want the same to happen in the Delaware River.
Let us know if you can join us at the hearing or send a letter to the commission.
Thank you for your support,
NJ Sierra Club Staff
P.S. There are carpools being organized in the Philadelphia area and a car shuttle running from the West Trenton Septa Train Station. To get more info on carpools or train pick up, contact DRN at 215-369-1188 ext. 110.
More information:
- The Delaware River Watershed supplies drinking water for 15 million people including one million New Jerseyans. Hydrofracking can, and has, contaminated drinking water supplies and streams and rivers.
- Each fracking well will destroy 15 acres of forest and need a half mile of roadway. There are currently proposals for more than 50,000 wells. This could mean the removal of 750,000 acres of woodlands and the construction of 25,000 miles of road. The runoff and pollution will cause irreparable damage to the Delaware River Watershed.
- The EPA is currently researching a comprehensive report due in 2012. The federal government has not yet passed the Frack Act to force the drilling companies to reveal the hundreds of toxic chemicals injected into the wells and comply with the Clean Air and Water Acts and the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act.
- The DRBC has placed a temporary and incomplete moratorium. The current moratorium will expire before the EPA’s impact study is released and full regulations are in place. The moratorium does not include previously permitted drilling projects or related projects like Stone Energy’s application to withdraw 700,000 million gallons per day from a major tributary.
- Consequently, it is essential that the DRBC act by adopting a total moratorium on gas projects while conducting a thorough analysis of the cumulative impacts of extended gas development and then adopts comprehensive regulations to protect and preserve the Delaware River Watershed for us and future generations.