Fracking Ban in Delaware River Basin a Historic Victory

Today, the Delaware River Basin Commission voted unanimously in favor of new regulations that will ban fracking in the Delaware River basin. The Biden administration’s representative to the commission abstained from the vote.

For a decade, the grassroots anti-fracking movement has pushed for a ban on the dangerous drilling process in the river basin, citing the threat it would pose to a drinking water supply for millions of people.

The draft rules also included controversial provisions that would have allowed fracking waste to be treated in the river basin, and would have created rules for fracking companies to withdraw water to support drilling activities. The commission removed those provisions and voted to start a new process to create rules on those issues.

In response, Food & Water Watch Executive Director Wenonah Hauter issued the following statement:

“A decade ago, we saw the dirty energy industry was eager to exploit a region that supplies drinking water to millions of people across four states — and we took action. Grassroots activists stopped a plan to frack the Delaware, and never stopped fighting until today’s victory was assured.

“The Biden administration’s decision to abstain from this vote is a major disappointment. Fracking is a threat to the Delaware, and everywhere else. Communities living with the harms of fracking have known for years that there’s no way to make fracking safe. The White House chose political expediency today over protecting the drinking water of 15 million people. Biden should listen to communities and science and support a ban on fracking everywhere.”