DRBC Vote To Protect Delaware River from fracking is historic day for the watershed

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Environment New Jersey

Trenton – The Delaware River Basin Commission (DRBC), a regional multi-state agency charged with preserving the Delaware River watershed, cast a historic vote today to fully ban fracking within the Delaware River Basin. This action comes after a multi-year public input process.

Environment New Jersey Director Doug O’Malley issued the following statement: 

“This is a great day for the Delaware River watershed and in the fight to protect our precious drinking water resources from the full impacts of fracking and its waste. This means the threat of fracking won’t shed its footprint on the national treasure that is the Delaware River watershed. 

This is the culmination of more than a decade of work to fully ban fracking and its waste from the watershed and the actions today will lead to full permanent protections to the watershed and the 15 million people who receive drinking water from the watershed. We look forward to working on the final set of rules to ban all fracking activities in the watershed but the message from DRBC today is clear — fracking and its activities pollute our precious watershed and should have no place in it. 

This is a massive victory for the public and hundreds of thousands of citizens who called for the DRBC to act over the last decade. We thank Governor Murphy for calling for this exact action more than two years ago and all the Governors who stood up for the watershed.”

The data is conclusive: From cradle to grave, fracking puts the health of our planet and our communities at risk. By banning this toxic practice in such a vital and beloved watershed, regional leaders are taking strong action to protect millions of people.

“Over the last decade, one thing has become crystal clear — the fracking industry is either unable or unwilling to comply with basic, common sense environmental safeguards.They chronically pollute, put our environment and health at risk, and even break the law.

“When the DRBC unveiled their proposal, hundreds of thousands of people spoke up in support of a full fracking ban. We thank the DRBC for listening to the hundreds of thousands of residents across the watershed who called for this action.”

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Environment New Jersey is dedicated to protecting our air, water and open spaces. We investigate problems, craft solutions, educate the public and decision-makers, and help the public make their voices heard in local, state and national debates over the quality of our environment and our lives. 

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