The River We Can’t Afford to Lose
By Brendan O.
Every year since 1986 American Rivers, a conservation organization committed to protecting America’s healthy rivers, releases a report of the ten rivers throughout the US that they believe are in the most danger of being destroyed.
This year at the top of the list was none other than our very own Upper Delaware River. Natural gas drilling in the Marcellus Shale is the reason for the convern.
The Upper Delaware River provides unfiltered drinking water for almost 17 million people in parts of New Jersey and Pennsylvania. American Rivers stated in their annual report that the clean water source that is the Upper Delaware River is being threatened by natural gas drilling in the Marcellus Shale where “chemicals injected into the ground create untreatable toxic wastewater.”
American Rivers also said that until a comprehensive study of the effects on drinking water and the environment caused by hydraulic fracturing is completed, the DRBC (Delaware River Basin Commission) should refrain from distributing any permits consenting to natural gas drilling in the Delaware River watershed.
In their report they also advocated that Congress pass the Fracturing Responsibility and Awareness of Chemicals Act of 2009, the FRAC Act, to help protect all the rivers that exist in the Marcellus Shale region.
The DRBC responded to the report by American Rivers, saying, “Being named to a “most endangered list” can lead uninformed people to draw incorrect conclusions that the quality of the Upper Delaware River is deteriorating. This is far from the truth.” The DRBC said that they recognize the importance of natural gas extraction to this region and the nation, and they are not opposed to the collection of this natural resource [gas], but “we must make sure that any natural gas development is done smartly so we do not harm the incredible water resources of the Delaware River Basin and the people it serves.”
The DRBC has designated the whole of the non-tidal Delaware River as “Special Protection Waters.” This designation supposedly provides protection for this section of the river as part of the DRBC’s anti-degradation regulations. However, the DRBC failed to review the ostensible “exploratory wells” that have been popping up within the Special Protection Waters. So “Special Protection Waters. So “Special Protection” must not cover toxic chemicals spewing into a river that provides millions of people with unfiltered drinking water. Two days prior to this paper going to print, Carol Collier, Executive Director of the DRBC, decided to extend these protections to exploratory wells in the Special Protection Waters. However, it will not cover exploratory wells erected before June 14, 2010.
Pat Carullo, member of the DRBC, has been receiving nonstop letters from the 65,000 members of the American Rivers organization prompting him to help protect the river. Almost daily we hear reports about another gas drilling blowout or disaster, and yet we also hear about how there are vast amounts of money to be made from the natural gas in the Marcellus Shale region. It’s times like these that we must ponder whether Machiavelli was right. Does the end really justify the means?
