The Delaware River Basin Commission posted draft regulations that would ban hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, in the region surrounding the river. The commission, which is made up of the governors of New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Delaware along with representatives from the federal government, posted draft rules that include the fracking ban on its website Nov. 30. It will hold four public hearings on the proposed regulations in late January to determine if the rule changes, which would make permanent the moratorium on gas drilling in the basin, will become permanent.
In addition to the ban on fracking, the rules would bar the importation and exportation of wastewater and tighten regulations surrounding the treatment and disposal of water produced after the fracking process to ensure that it does not conflict with preservation of water in the basin. A coalition of environmental groups led by the Delaware Riverkeeper in September sought a ban on interbasin movement of water for drilling purposes.
Pennsylvania's Wayne and Pike counties are the most likely to feel the impact from a ban. Wayne is adjacent to Pennsylvania's top gas-producing county, Susquehanna, in the northeast Marcellus Shale. Susquehanna County saw 3.6 Bcf/d of production in June. There are no producing wells in either Wayne or Pike, according to the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection's database. Hess Corp., Newfield Exploration Co. and Stone Energy Corp. plugged what few remaining active wells they operated in Wayne County as leases expired and the moratorium on fracking stayed in place. No unconventional wells were ever spud in Pike County.
