http://stream.publicbroadcasting.net/production/mp3/wamc/local-wamc-980622.mp3
New Paltz, NY – For the past month in New York, the debate over natural gas exploration has been focused on draft regulations proposed by the State Department of Environmental Conservation. There are concerns, though, that decisions made outside of Albany will have significant impacts as well on the future of gas drilling. WAMC's Hudson Valley Bureau Chief Greg Fry reports...
The Delaware River Basin Commission monitors areas of four states that are near the Delaware River. The basin runs from parts of the lower Hudson Valley and Catskills in New York, through the eastern portion of Pennsylvania and western portion of New Jersey, and into much of Delaware.
The commission, made up of representatives from each state, as well as one federal representative, issued its latest set of regulations regarding natural gas drilling within the basin, and held public hearings on those regulations earlier this year. Like most arguments regarding natural gas exploration, some said those regulations went too far, and others say they don't go far enough.
New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman believes that the commission violated federal law by not conducting a full environmental review of the impacts of drilling, specifically, the controversial practice of high-volume hydraulic fracturing, within the basin. Schneiderman, in a recent interview with our Capitol Correspondent Karen DeWitt, explained the reason for a lawsuit filed against the federal government. Schneiderman says they want a broader study done by the commission, which has acknowledged in the past that it is a federal agency, which needs to follow the National Environmental Policy Act.
This week, the federal government announced that it would attempt to have that suit dismissed in court, arguing that the state doesn't have the right to sue, and that the Attorney General's office has not proven its case regarding the need for the study.
Jeff Tittel is the Director of the New Jersey Sierra Club. Tittel has been an outspoken critic in that state, where a bill to ban hydrofracking sits on Governor Chris Christie's desk. Tittel says he's concerned that the bill won't be signed. Another concern for Tittel is recent news that New Jersey officials are pushing for the DRBC's regulations to be adopted at a September meeting, and the news that funding could be withheld if those regulations aren't adopted. Tittel says New Jersey is a key vote on the commission.
Calls and e-mails to the commission's office in New Jersey were not returned in time for the airing of this story. While some are concerned that the DRBC's regulations don't protect water supplies, others have argued that the commission's work cuts into the regulations put in place by individual states. In fact, Pennsylvania's top environmental official made that argument in a letter submitted during the commission's public comment period, saying that oversight by the DRBC in certain areas is duplicative and unnecessary. There's been no formal word on when the commission might finalize its' regulations.