The DRBC’s Newly Proposed Natural Gas Regulations Explained

November 10, 2011 | 3:24 PM

By Susan Phillips

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Pennsylvania’s nat­ural gas drilling boom is expected to get rolling in North­east Penn­syl­va­nia after the Delaware River Basin Com­mis­sion votes on its pro­posed drilling reg­u­la­tions. Drilling in the Delaware River Basin has been under a mora­to­rium until the Com­mis­sion­ers approve new rules. After receiv­ing thou­sands of pub­lic com­ments, and hold­ing sev­eral pub­lic hear­ings, the DRBC has updated its Decem­ber 2010 pro­posal. We have a link to the anno­tated fact sheet below.

At the meet­ing on Novem­ber 21, Com­mis­sion­ers will vote on the pro­posed reg­u­la­tions, but will not take any fur­ther pub­lic com­ment. This has envi­ron­men­tal­ists plan­ning some poten­tial direct actions.

“We will legally exer­cise our First Amend­ment rights come Novem­ber 21,” said the head of the Delaware River­keeper Net­work, Maya von Rossum.

DRBC offi­cials say they’re fol­low­ing estab­lished pro­to­col when it comes to the issue over pub­lic com­ment peri­ods. But envi­ron­men­tal­ists like von Rossum have a lot to say about the new pro­pos­als. A coali­tion of nine groups released a ten-point cri­tique of the document.

First on the list of griev­ances is the set­back require­ments. The DRBC increased the dis­tance a gas well can be from pub­lic water sources from 500 feet in the Decem­ber pro­posal, to 1000 feet in the most recent draft. But envi­ron­men­tal­ists are unhappy with the reduc­tion in set­back require­ments when it comes to streams and wet­lands. The Decem­ber pro­posal had that dis­tance at 500 feet, the cur­rent pro­posal is 300 feet. Read more about the DRBC pro­posal and the envi­ron­men­tal­ists’ response below.