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Agency permanently bans fracking near Delaware River

JacksinPA

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https://apnews.com/article/fracking-ban-vote-delaware-river-16dbb425b97cff0fb6f10186b0a2bae8</div>


A regulatory agency that’s responsible for the water supply of more than 13 million people in four Northeastern states voted Thursday to permanently ban natural gas drilling and fracking near a crucial waterway, asserting that gas development poses an unacceptable threat.

The Delaware River Basin Commission cited “significant immediate and long-term risks” from gas extraction, asserting that drillers have “adversely impacted surface-water and groundwater resources, including sources of drinking water, and have harmed aquatic life in some regions.”

The ban applies to two counties in Pennsylvania’s northeastern tip that are part of the nation’s largest gas field, the Marcellus Shale. Nearly 13,000 wells have been drilled elsewhere in the vast Marcellus formation, turning Pennsylvania into the nation’s No. 2 gas-producing state.
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This is near where I live. Contaminating a vital aquifer with fracking chemicals like benzene could create a massive problem for our town's water supply agency. So I approve. Go frack somewhere else, like TX.
 
https://apnews.com/article/fracking-ban-vote-delaware-river-16dbb425b97cff0fb6f10186b0a2bae8</div>


A regulatory agency that’s responsible for the water supply of more than 13 million people in four Northeastern states voted Thursday to permanently ban natural gas drilling and fracking near a crucial waterway, asserting that gas development poses an unacceptable threat.

The Delaware River Basin Commission cited “significant immediate and long-term risks” from gas extraction, asserting that drillers have “adversely impacted surface-water and groundwater resources, including sources of drinking water, and have harmed aquatic life in some regions.”

The ban applies to two counties in Pennsylvania’s northeastern tip that are part of the nation’s largest gas field, the Marcellus Shale. Nearly 13,000 wells have been drilled elsewhere in the vast Marcellus formation, turning Pennsylvania into the nation’s No. 2 gas-producing state.
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This is near where I live. Contaminating a vital aquifer with fracking chemicals like benzene could create a massive problem for our town's water supply agency. So I approve. Go frack somewhere else, like TX.
My neighbor is an environmental attorney. He goes after companies that pollute our waterways. Clean and safe water has been his mission for a long time. I bet this story pleases him.
 
https://apnews.com/article/fracking-ban-vote-delaware-river-16dbb425b97cff0fb6f10186b0a2bae8</div>


A regulatory agency that’s responsible for the water supply of more than 13 million people in four Northeastern states voted Thursday to permanently ban natural gas drilling and fracking near a crucial waterway, asserting that gas development poses an unacceptable threat.

The Delaware River Basin Commission cited “significant immediate and long-term risks” from gas extraction, asserting that drillers have “adversely impacted surface-water and groundwater resources, including sources of drinking water, and have harmed aquatic life in some regions.”

The ban applies to two counties in Pennsylvania’s northeastern tip that are part of the nation’s largest gas field, the Marcellus Shale. Nearly 13,000 wells have been drilled elsewhere in the vast Marcellus formation, turning Pennsylvania into the nation’s No. 2 gas-producing state.
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This is near where I live. Contaminating a vital aquifer with fracking chemicals like benzene could create a massive problem for our town's water supply agency. So I approve. Go frack somewhere else, like TX.

Good news. Human health and safety for the masses is more important than profits for a lucky few.
 
https://apnews.com/article/fracking-ban-vote-delaware-river-16dbb425b97cff0fb6f10186b0a2bae8</div>


A regulatory agency that’s responsible for the water supply of more than 13 million people in four Northeastern states voted Thursday to permanently ban natural gas drilling and fracking near a crucial waterway, asserting that gas development poses an unacceptable threat.

The Delaware River Basin Commission cited “significant immediate and long-term risks” from gas extraction, asserting that drillers have “adversely impacted surface-water and groundwater resources, including sources of drinking water, and have harmed aquatic life in some regions.”

The ban applies to two counties in Pennsylvania’s northeastern tip that are part of the nation’s largest gas field, the Marcellus Shale. Nearly 13,000 wells have been drilled elsewhere in the vast Marcellus formation, turning Pennsylvania into the nation’s No. 2 gas-producing state.
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This is near where I live. Contaminating a vital aquifer with fracking chemicals like benzene could create a massive problem for our town's water supply agency. So I approve. Go frack somewhere else, like TX.
Two of the last four major demonstrations that I attended were to stop a trans-Hudson gas pipeline from the Marcellus Shale fracking region into NYC. Much is known and publicized about the toxicity of fracking chemicals in the ground water, but another regional problem exists. In the case of the Marcellus and Utica Shale natural gas in particular, its boundaries overlay what is often called the Reading Prong - a region where subsurface Radon gas is in abundance.

What that means is that, at least in those areas of overlay, the natural gas that's being extracted can actually be radioactive. Radon gas has long been known to seep into basements and cause spikes in cancer rates in Eastern Pennsylvania and Northern New Jersey. Testing basements for Radon gas is a requirement in home inspections before sale, so that mitigation measures can be taken by the owners to prevent dangerous accumulation levels. But the natural gas that's being pumped out of the Marcellus and Utica Shale formations isn't even tested for Radon - which means that people who turn on their stoves at the user end of the pipeline could be subjected to high levels of radioactivity.

And nobody I know keeps a Geiger counter in their kitchen.
 
Two of the last four major demonstrations that I attended were to stop a trans-Hudson gas pipeline from the Marcellus Shale fracking region into NYC. Much is known and publicized about the toxicity of fracking chemicals in the ground water, but another regional problem exists. In the case of the Marcellus and Utica Shale natural gas in particular, its boundaries overlay what is often called the Reading Prong - a region where subsurface Radon gas is in abundance.

What that means is that, at least in those areas of overlay, the natural gas that's being extracted can actually be radioactive. Radon gas has long been known to seep into basements and cause spikes in cancer rates in Eastern Pennsylvania and Northern New Jersey. Testing basements for Radon gas is a requirement in home inspections before sale, so that mitigation measures can be taken by the owners to prevent dangerous accumulation levels. But the natural gas that's being pumped out of the Marcellus and Utica Shale formations isn't even tested for Radon - which means that people who turn on their stoves at the user end of the pipeline could be subjected to high levels of radioactivity.

And nobody I know keeps a Geiger counter in their kitchen.

PA does not require a radon test in order to sell a house. NJ does. After they found that I had been inhaling radon above the limit for 28 years, we had to do remediation, including a blower fan. I see a few in the 'hood so I ordered a home radon test, which is actually 2 tests so that one can verify the other. I was just over the limit, which could be experimental error. So a recent chest CT was clean, so I'm not doing anything about radon until I have to.
 
PA does not require a radon test in order to sell a house. NJ does. After they found that I had been inhaling radon above the limit for 28 years, we had to do remediation, including a blower fan. I see a few in the 'hood so I ordered a home radon test, which is actually 2 tests so that one can verify the other. I was just over the limit, which could be experimental error. So a recent chest CT was clean, so I'm not doing anything about radon until I have to.
Sounds like you're on top of it. If, in the Covid world, you aren't spending all day/every day down in your basement, it may not have much impact. But for those homebound many who have been doing just that, I wouldn't be surprised to see cancer spikes in the region as a side effect of Covid isolation.
Stay safe.
 
https://apnews.com/article/fracking-ban-vote-delaware-river-16dbb425b97cff0fb6f10186b0a2bae8</div>


A regulatory agency that’s responsible for the water supply of more than 13 million people in four Northeastern states voted Thursday to permanently ban natural gas drilling and fracking near a crucial waterway, asserting that gas development poses an unacceptable threat.

The Delaware River Basin Commission cited “significant immediate and long-term risks” from gas extraction, asserting that drillers have “adversely impacted surface-water and groundwater resources, including sources of drinking water, and have harmed aquatic life in some regions.”

The ban applies to two counties in Pennsylvania’s northeastern tip that are part of the nation’s largest gas field, the Marcellus Shale. Nearly 13,000 wells have been drilled elsewhere in the vast Marcellus formation, turning Pennsylvania into the nation’s No. 2 gas-producing state.
=========================================================================
This is near where I live. Contaminating a vital aquifer with fracking chemicals like benzene could create a massive problem for our town's water supply agency. So I approve. Go frack somewhere else, like TX.

What about the Susquehanna River Basin Commission?????
 
Good news. Human health and safety for the masses is more important than profits for a lucky few.

Particularly since alternatives are emerging.
 
What about the Susquehanna River Basin Commission?????

The Delaware River commission is necessary because several states are affected by that river. Is your river basin multi-state?
 
The Delaware River commission is necessary because several states are affected by that river. Is your river basin multi-state?


The Susquehanna River is part of the Chesapeake Bay Drainage area and is governed by an EPA TMDL order from 2009.

It is actually a far larger drainage area than the Delaware River. And has been governed by an EO that established a TMDL (total maximum daily load) for phosphorus and nitrogen. Fracking water from wells in Pennsylvania is not well regulated. When the boom started back around 2010, the GOP legislature actually CUT the funding of the Department of Environment Protection in half!

Getting the states in the Bay region to agree on their share of the reduction goals has been a year’s long process. One in which the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania has been the least cooperative and the least pro active.

Half of the water in the Chespeake Bay comes directly from the Susquehanna.
 
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