I’m writing to you today from the Delaware River Basin Commission’s (DRBC’s) meeting in New Jersey where Catskill Mountainkeeper is demanding that the commission ban fracking and all related activities in the Basin. Earlier this year DRBC proposed to ban fracking, but its draft rules would still allow fracking companies to use the basin as a storage area or a dump for dangerous, toxic fracking wastes. We need Governor Cuomo to use his power as a member of the DRBC to demand a COMPLETE ban against fracking and all its activities. Call Governor Cuomo and tell him to push the DRBC for a complete ban in the Basin.
Yesterday it became even clearer that a complete ban is the only way to protect the Delaware. A groundbreaking new report details how more than half of the natural gas wells in Pennsylvania were fracked using secret chemicals. These chemicals are part of fracking's wastewater and can harm human health and the environment. Governor Cuomo has a vote in the DRBC - call him today and tell him two things: NO fracking and NO fracking waste in the Delaware River Basin.
Yesterday's report, Keystone Secrets: Records Show Widespread Use of Secret Fracking Chemicals Is a Looming Risk for Delaware River Basin, Pennsylvania Communities, by Partnership for Policy Integrity (PFPI) provides even stronger evidence for a COMPLETE ban on fracking and all its activities. The comprehensive report reveals that drilling companies have extensively used loopholes in Pennsylvania rules to withhold chemical identities as trade secrets. Because the Delaware River Basin includes New York State, if DRBC allows storage, transport, and treatment of fracking wastes in other states, we could still find ourselves with polluted water and a sick river.
Governor Cuomo or his representative will vote on whether to allow fracking and fracking activities at the upcoming December DRBC meeting. Your call today will let him know we’re watching, and we demand full protection from the harmful, secret chemicals used by fracking companies that care more about making money than about our health or natural places.
Ten years ago when the fracking boom started communities were outraged; they could not believe that industry was claiming trade secrets and using the Halliburton loophole to hide what toxins we were potentially being exposed to. Ten years later and the industry is still lying and hiding what they are releasing into our communities and waterways.
Your call today will send a loud and clear message to the Delaware River Basin Commission. The gas industry cannot be trusted and we won’t know what is being discharged into the Delaware. The only way to protect is to prevent--we need a complete ban on fracking and its activities.
Thank you for all you do to protect our Delaware River and to fight back against fracking.
Sincerely,
Wes Gillingham
Associate Director
P.S. We need your support in this urgent fight. Right now your gift to support Catskill Mountainkeeper will be matched by an anonymous donor, doubling its impact in protecting the Delaware River.
