The regulatory agency in charge of managing the Delaware River and its tributaries voted last week to permanently ban natural gas drilling and fracking within the entire four-state watershed, which supplies the drinking water for more than 13 million people in Pennsylvania, Delaware, New Jersey, and New York.
The interstate Delaware River Basin Commission (DRBC) cited the scientific evidence that fracking has polluted drinking water, surface water, and groundwater.
The vote prohibits gas drilling in parts of the Marcellus Shale that overlap the Delaware watershed, specifically in northeastern Pennsylvania and southern New York State, NPR reported.
Read more at: Yale Environment 360
The Delaware River near New Hope, Pennsylvania. (Photo Credit: James Loesch / Wikimedia Commons)