Political Schism Prompts Prominent Drilling Activist to Quit Coalition

Susan Phillips

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Susan Phillips tells stories about the consequences of political decisions on people's every day lives. She has worked as a reporter for WHYY since 2004. Susan's coverage of the 2008 Presidential election resulted in a story on the front page of the New York Times. In 2010 she traveled to Haiti to cover the earthquake. That same year she produced an award-winning series on Pennsylvania's natural gas rush called "The Shale Game." She received a 2013 Alfred I. duPont-Columbia University Journalism Award for her work covering natural gas drilling in Pennsylvania. She has also won several Edward R. Murrow awards for her work with StateImpact. In 2013/14 she spent a year at MIT as a Knight Science Journalism Fellow. She has also been a Metcalf Fellow, an MBL Logan Science Journalism Fellow and reported from Marrakech on the 2016 climate talks as an International Reporting Project Fellow. A graduate of Columbia School of Journalism, she earned her Bachelor's degree in International Relations from George Washington University.

October 21, 2011 | 11:25 AM

Delaware Riverkeeper Network

A reporter from 6ABC interviews Delaware Riverkeeper Maya von Rossum.

Maya von Rossum, the head of the Delaware Riverkeeper Network, and a commissioner with the Citizen’s Marcellus Shale Commission, announced today that she’s resigned from her post as a commissioner because the rest of the group refused to support a drilling moratorium. Von Rossum announced her decision through a press release.

“The failure to articulate a need for a moratorium on further drilling and/or drilling permits until needed protections were put in place and needed studies to inform those regulations are done was a conscious oversight. The lack of publicity over the hearings needed to ensure citizen awareness of the opportunity to speak out on this important issue was another major short coming,” said van Rossum.

Activists created the Citizen’s Commission as an alternative to Governor Corbett’s hand-picked Marcellus Shale Advisory Commission, which released its own recommendations in July. Drilling foes criticized Corbett’s Commission as stacked with pro-industry voices, and few environmentalists. The Citizen’s Marcellus Shale Commission held its own hearings across the state in September to seek input on gas drilling from Pennsylvania residents.
Chris Lilienthal, a spokesman for the Citizen’s Marcellus Shale Commission, says the group has yet to finalize its recommendations.

“The Citizen Marcellus Shale Commission has not released a final report, so any comment on its content is premature. Commission members have worked tirelessly to complete the report and achieve consensus on recommendations throughout the week.”

The announcement comes just days before the Citizens’ Commission is scheduled to announce its report.The Delaware Riverkeeper Network is the primary force pressuring the Delaware River Basin Commission to extend the current drilling moratorium in the Delaware River watershed.