The Delaware River Basin Commission decided last week to delay a vote on rules for drilling, leaving a moratorium in place
Eric Weltman, an organizer with Food and Water Watch, chants along with a crowd opposing natural gas drilling in the Delaware River watershed during a rally today in Trenton.Hundreds of environmental activists gathered in Trenton today for a rally that became a celebration of a delay in natural gas drilling in the Delaware River watershed.
But the drilling opponents, including actors Debra Winger and Mark Ruffalo, cautioned that their battle isn’t over yet after the Delaware River Basin Commission decided last week to delay a vote on rules for drilling, leaving a moratorium in place.
“We have more time for building more evidence and more allies,” Maya Van Rossum, head of the advocacy group Delaware Riverkeeper Network, told the crowd.
The commission, which monitors water quality in an area that includes parts of four states and provides drinking water for more than 15 million people, had been scheduled to vote today on rules on natural gas drilling in the region.
Opponents and supporters of drilling were preparing to descend on Trenton for the vote. Some opponents today suggested they were prepared to engage in civil disobedience to disrupt the meeting.
The commission, which has board members representing the governors of Delaware, New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania and the Obama Administration, abruptly postponed the vote last week after Delaware Gov. Jack Markell said he would vote against the rules, making the outcome uncertain.
The commission has not said when a new vote could be scheduled.
Energy companies are eager to drill in northeastern Pennsylvania’s portions of the Marcellus Shale, a giant underground rock formation. Opponents say the method, known as hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, endangers drinking water. Its supporters say the drilling would not harm water supplies.
The debate over the rules is emotional. Energy companies and many residents say the drilling would bring desperately needed jobs to a downtrodden area. Many of them say the proposed rules, which would initially limit the number of wells to 300 and require a $5 million bond for each one, are too onerous.
But environmentalists say any drilling is potentially disastrous.
Today, they chanted, “no fracking way,” and some had signs linking the cause to Occupy Wall Street. They walked to the State House in hopes of persuading Gov. Chris Christie, who is expected to vote in favor of the rules, to switch his vote to “no.”
Christie and Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Corbett are expected to vote in favor of the regulations. Markell and New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo are expected to vote against them. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which represents President Barack Obama on the commission, has not said how it will vote.
The activists took credit today for flipping Markell’s position, pushing back the scheduled vote and putting the fate of the rules in question. “You shut them down by swarming them with calls, swarming them with emails and the threat you’d show up here today,” said Josh Fox, who made the anti-fracking documentary film, “Gasland.”
Winger said protesters need to keep working.
“I get scared right after the victory,” she said.