Delaware Riverkeeper Network Archives - RKR Hess

A group of Pennsylvania senators is joining in an ongoing lawsuit that questions the authority of the Delaware River Basin Commission (DRBC) to place a moratorium on hydraulic fracturing in the river basin.

Senators Lisa Baker, Joseph Scarnati and Gene Yaw have filed to join a lawsuit brought by a landowners’ group called the Wayne Land and Mineral Group, LLC (WLMG), according to The River Reporter. The original lawsuit by the landowners sought to reverse a decision by the DRBC not to issue a permit for an exploratory well.

The senators’ motion to intervene questions whether the DRBC has the authority to prevent hydraulic fracturing in the basin. In a motion to join the suit, the senators claim the DRBC has worked around existing Pennsylvania state laws (specifically Act 13), according to the Pocono Record.

The DRBC is a regional body with the goal to oversee management of the Delaware River system across state boundaries. It was created in 1961 as an interstate compact in response to a 1954 Supreme Court decision to settle water use disputes among Pennsylvania, Delaware, New York and New Jersey. The DRBC consists of the governors from the four states and the Division Engineer of the North Atlantic Division, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. The DRBC employs a staff of engineers, biologists, geologists, and other specialists.

In 2010, the DRBC voted to postpone well drilling in the basin until the commission could adopt further regulations.  Proposed regulations were released in 2010, and revisions were published in 2011; however, the DRBC has not voted on final regulations and has not set a timeline for doing so. Until the DRBC approves the regulations, the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (PADEP) will not issue permits for drilling.  Earlier this year, the commission announced that it would hold public hearings in response to public safety concerns surrounding construction of a pipeline that would potentially carry natural gas from the Marcellus Shale formation to interconnects near Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, and Mercer County, New Jersey.

The Delaware Riverkeeper Network (DRN) also filed to join the landowners’ lawsuit, citing a need to ensure that health and safety issues surrounding hydraulic fracturing would be addressed. The DRN is a nonprofit organization created to protect rights to “pure water, clean air and a healthy environment,” according to its website.

The suit is entering the discovery stage, according to the Pocono Record, but a timeline for the process has not been published.

Public comments are now open on the PennEast Pipeline Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS), released in July and prepared by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) in cooperation with several other agencies.

The over 1,000-page DEIS examines the possible effects of the 119-mile pipeline, proposed to carry one billion cubic feet per day of natural gas between Pennsylvania and New Jersey.

“Approval of this project would result in some adverse environmental impacts; however, most of these impacts would be reduced to less-than-significant levels with the implementation of PennEast’s proposed mitigation and additional recommendations in the draft EIS,” the draft states.

The DEIS indicates that the environmental and visual impact of the pipeline would be “effectively minimized or mitigated” based on the project’s current plans. These impacts include disruption to five threatened or endangered animal and plant species located along the 119-mile stretch.

The DEIS concluded that the PennEast Pipeline would “contribute to a cumulative improvement in regional air quality if a portion of the natural gas associated with the project displaces the use of other more polluting fossil fuels.”

Opponents of the pipeline argue that mitigation throughout the project will not be enough to limit the pipeline’s potential damage to the environment.

In a news release addressing the DEIS, the Delaware Riverkeeper Network said, “For those who think that the issuance of this document and the FERC finding that mitigation is enough to address the immense and irreparable harms the PennEast Pipeline would inflict means the project is a done deal, that’s just not the case.”

Pennsylvania and New Jersey have yet to issue Clean Water Act certifications, and the project has not yet been approved by the Delaware River Basin Commission. However, the DEIS cited a November 2017 projected start date for the project, pending all necessary state and agency approvals.

Released on July 22, the draft’s public comments phase will close 45 days later on Sept. 5. That period includes six public comment meetings throughout Pennsylvania and New Jersey.

Comments about the DEIS are due to the FERC by September 5, 2016.  There are four ways to submit comments:

1. For brief, text-only comments, use the eComment feature under the Documents and Filings link at the FERC website.
2. For longer comments or comments that are in an electronic file, use the eFiling feature under the Documents and Filings link at the FERC website. (You must create an account to use the eFiling system.)
3. Paper comments should be mailed to:Nathaniel J. Davis, Sr., Deputy Secretary
   Federal Energy Regulatory Commission
   888 First Street NE, Room 1A
   Washington, DC 20426
4. Public comment meetings will be held to record oral comments. The meetings are scheduled as follows:

• Monday, August 15, 2016
  6-10 p.m.
  Best Western Lehigh Valley Hotel & Conference Center
  300 Gateway Drive
  Bethlehem, PA 18017
• Monday, August 15, 2016
  6-10 p.m.
  Penn’s Peak
  325 Maury Road
  Jim Thorpe, PA 18229
• Tuesday, August 16, 2016
  6-10 p.m.
  Grand Colonial
  86 Route 173 West
  Hampton, NJ 08827
• Tuesday, August 16, 2016
  6-10 p.m.
  Peddler’s Village
  (Lahaska and Neshaminy Rooms)
  Routes 202 & 263
  Lahaska, PA 19831
• Wednesday, August 17, 2016
  6-10 p.m.
  Best Western Genetti Hotel & Conference Center
  77 E. Market Street
  Wilkes-Barre, PA 18701
• Wednesday, August 17, 2016
  6-10 p.m.
  Clifford B. Memorial Hall
  1666 Pennington Road
  Ewing, NJ 08618