Don’t Frack the Delaware

Don’t Frack the Delaware and Risk Our Water and Health

By Betty Tatham, Guest Opinion, Intelligencer, Nov. 16, 2011, and Bucks County Courier Times, Nov. 17, 2011

The Delaware River Basin Commission was created 50 years ago by Congress “to protect the water quality, quantity and scenic beauty of the Delaware River Basin.”  That protection is now in jeopardy, if 3 of the 5 Commissioners: Governor Christy, Governor Corbett, Governor Cuomo, Governor Markell and Col. Larsen, who represents President Obama and the federal government, vote to approve the just published Revised Natural Gas Regulations on November 21.  The public meeting will be held at the War Memorial Theater in Trenton between 10:00 a.m. and noon and it will be followed by a question and answer period.  The regulations are available on the Commission’s website. [Please sign and circulate this petition and fact sheet, to be delivered to the Commission by the Delaware Riverkeeper prior to the November 21 meeting.]

"Game Changer" on This American Life

Episode 440, originally aired July 8, 2011.
"A professor in Pennsylvania makes a calculation, to discover that his state is sitting atop a massive reserve of natural gas—enough to revolutionize how America gets its energy. But another professor in Pennsylvania does a different calculation and reaches a troubling conclusion: that getting natural gas out of the ground poses a risk to public health. Two men, two calculations, and two very different consequences."

"Residents get lesson in 'fracking' dangers"

By Annie Tasker, Intelligencer, August 29, 2010:

Dozens of locals gathered in Quakertown Saturday for a discussion on hydraulic fracturing for natural gas, a practice that's boomed in recent years and prompted studies on its possible impact on the Delaware River and the 15 million people who rely on it for drinking water.

"From 'Dump the Pump' to kill the drill"

By Amanda Cregan, Intelligencer, August 15, 2010:

Thirty years ago, the Point Pleasant Pump motivated thousands of Bucks County residents to link arms against an energy utility and the government. As natural gas drilling looms, "the emotional components are right in place for 'Pump Two,' " says a veteran of the Pump era.

Thirty years ago, an environmental movement swept through Bucks County, uniting thousands of residents and activists against a government they didn't trust and corporations they believed sought profit over public health.

Similar forces are aligning themselves today.

This time it's not the Point Pleasant Pump, which intertwined the lives of people across the spectrum, from housewives and lawyers to social and political activists such as Abbie Hoffman.

Now, it's natural gas drilling. And much has not changed.

Nukes, yesterday. Fracking, today. . . .

"House panel to investigate ‘fracking’"

By Marty Reddington, AP/Phillyburbs.com, February 19, 2010: "An oil and gas drilling technique that is becoming more widespread is drawing scrutiny from lawmakers concerned that it may pose a hazard to human health by tainting drinking water and harming the environment. . . ."