So, we're here today because the Delaware River Basin Commission was supposed to meet
in this building and vote on whether or not they were going to lift the moratorium on
gas drilling in our watershed and put in place very weak inadequate regulations.
The public spoke up. 69,800 comments were submitted to the Delaware River Basin Commission
during the public comment period on these rules that they had proposed regarding gas
drilling in the Delaware River watershed.
And over the four months of that public comment period, people really weighed in.
And it was the biggest public interest ever shown in any rulemaking by the Delaware River
Basin Commission or probably in any of the states for that matter.
And what everyone was saying is don't move ahead.
You don't even know what this gas drilling process, the hydraulic fracturing and the
horizontal drilling and the injection of chemicals into the ground is going to do to the water
resources that you're responsible for taking care of.
And the DRBC had realized that it was very important that they not just let the industry
run in without considering this, because they have the responsibility of protecting 15 million
people, 15 million people in New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Delaware get their
water from the Delaware River.
Unfortunately, it seems as if politics has prevailed.
And that led us to this day here today, because when they put out draft regulations that were
not based on accumulative impact analysis, when they didn't do the proper comprehensive
environmental study that they needed in order to figure out, is this type of polluting activity
even compatible with the water supply watershed?
When they didn't do that and they went ahead and scheduled to vote to adopt those regulations
and lift the current drilling war tournament or watershed, it became clear that they were
not acting to protect the water supply.
They were not acting to protect our communities, the critters that live in the river, the very
important economic sustained economic activity that's associated with a clean and healthy
river.
And they weren't thinking about the future, because we know, and the scientists that Delaware
River Keeper Network has engaged, have made it very clear to us in studies that we commissioned
about these rules, that it's not a question of whether or if groundwater and aquifers
and surface water will be polluted by fracking, it's just a question of when.
As a result of everybody speaking up, this meeting was canceled today.
It became very clear when Governor Cuomo's administration announced in New York a couple
weeks ago that they were going to vote no on these regulations, that the dominos were
beginning to fall.
And then Governor Markel just last week on Thursday announced that he was going to vote
no.
And he said he was going to vote no because he did not believe the science was in place
to show that this is safe.
He said that he wanted to protect the water supply for the Delaware residents.
He said that he did not feel that the health of his residents or throughout the Delaware
watershed was going to be protected by the regulations that were proposed.
So he was voting no.
That's a really important qualitative decision that has been made by Governor Markel and
announced last week.
So what did the DRBC do in response?
They canceled the meeting.
And the reason they canceled the meeting apparently is because they're not sure they have that
third vote and they need three or five votes in order to approve this.
The way we look at it, we need three or five votes to kill this.
And that's what we're going to redouble our efforts to make sure we do.
That's why we're here today to say, you know what, they're not in their voting opening our
watershed to drilling.
We're standing out here where they were going to do that vote because all of you, all of
us spoke up and told the voting members of the DRBC, stop, don't drill the Delaware.
So today we have a moment, only a moment of celebration.
And every day that drilling is not happening in the Delaware River watershed is a day to
celebrate.
So we will redouble our efforts and make sure we get that third vote because that third
vote, either Governor Christie or the Obama administration will assure that these regulations
do not go forward.
We want the moratorium in place in the Delaware River watershed to be permanent.
We don't want any drilling in our watershed.
We believe that the water supply for 15 million people is far too great to risk to this unsafe
process.
We also know because of the Delaware River's exceptional quality that it's actually illegal
to degrade that water quality.
And we know that this process is not compatible with the high quality, wild and scenic river,
the national treasure that it is, and the protection of water supply for the 15 million
people that rely on it.
Moving forward with the commission split, who would you consider the easiest target
or the most potential target for that swing vote?
I think the Obama administration, because I think they're starting to wake up and realize
that the public is very educated about hydraulic fracturing and gas drilling and the intrinsically
polluting nature of fracking and drilling.
And I think that they're hearing that from their constituents.
And I think President Obama and his administration have the potential to wake up and understand
that this is their base.
We are the people that went out and got that administration elected.
And I think that there is a possibility that the Obama administration will be the third
vote to vote this down permanently.
And I think that the Obama administration will be the third vote to vote this down permanently.
And I think that the Obama administration will be the third vote to vote this down permanently.
And I think that the Obama administration will be the third vote to vote this down permanently.
And I think that the Obama administration will be the third vote to vote this down permanently.
And I think that the Obama administration will be the third vote to vote this down permanently.
