Delaware River Basin Commission Delays Action on Drilling Regulations

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.

September 6, 2011 | 5:32 PM

The Delaware River Basin Commission has postponed acting on its proposed natural gas drilling regulations until October. The Commission announced Tuesday that the regularly scheduled September meeting will not have gas drilling on its agenda. Instead, the Commission will hold a special public meeting to specifically address natural gas production on October 21 in the Patriots Theater at the War Memorial in Trenton.
Drilling in the Delaware River Basin is on hold until the Commissioners adopt new rules. The Delaware River runs 330 miles from Hancock, N.Y. to the Delaware Bay. About 15 million people get their drinking water from the river. Environmentalists say drilling could contaminate the water supply and are pushing the Commission to extend the drilling moratorium until an environmental impact study is conducted. But the Commissioners have also gotten pressure from industry and pro-drilling constituents to implement regulations and lift the moratorium.
Last December, the Commission published draft rules for gas drilling in the Delaware River Basin. Six public hearings followed, along with an unprecedented number of written comments. The Commission’s proposal will be modified based on that public testimony. A vote on the regulations is expected to take place at the October meeting, which is open to the public, but it is not a hearing.