ExxonMobile has a sneaky fracking plan for the mighty and scenic DELAWARE RIVER that supplies the drinking water for more than 15 million Americans, including in NYC and Philadelphia.
ExxonMobil subsidiary XTO Energy has applied for a permit to take 250,000 gallons of water every day for natural gas development, HYDRO FRACKING, in Broome and Delaware Counties of New York, just from the Oquaga Creek, a native trout stream that flows to the West Branch of the Delaware River. The vote and hearing were hastily scheduled for this Wednesday, May 11 at a Delaware River Basin Commission meeting in West Trenton, NJ, 4 hours away from the site of withdrawal. DRBC is the Federal/State agency that regulates the 13,500 square mile Delaware River Basin that stretches from NY’s Delaware County south to the Delaware Bay. The DRBC, whose members include the Army Corps of Engineers, Commission Chairman DE Gov. Jack Markall, NY Gov. Andrew Cuomo, PA Gov. Tom Corbett, NJ Gov. Chris Christie, has the legal authority over activities that may substantially affect water resources within the Basin.
The Delaware is the longest un-dammed river east of the Mississippi, flowing freely for 330 miles. It begins in New York and flows through Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Delaware to the Atlantic Ocean. The Upper Delaware was named America's most endangered river of 2010 because of the Marcellus gas rush.
Last month NY Attorney General Eric Schneiderman threatened to sue the Federal government over (lack of) hydrofracking regulations.
ACTION steps below the fold. Primer on fracking with many links below that.