Gas Drilling

Gas Drilling and the Delaware River Basin

There is no Gas Drilling in Bucks County

December 19, 2013 - Act 13 overturned 

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court overturned parts of a controversial 2012 state law, called Act 13, which allowed gas companies to drill anywhere in the state without regard to local zoning laws. The Court’s decision upholds the ability of local governments to establish quality-of-life protections their constituencies want.

Act 13 included provisions that specifically restricted local municipalities' ability to control where companies may place rigs, waste pits, pipelines and compressor and processing stations. Seven municipalities challenged the shale drilling law.

Assessment of Undiscovered Oil and Gas Resources of the East Coast Mesozoic Basins of the Piedmont, Blue Ridge Thrust Belt, Atlantic Coastal Plain, and New England Provinces, 2011

October 2, 2013

DCNR quietly begins gas drilling study in Bucks, Montgomery Counties. The drilling moratorium is until 2018 or... until a study is completed.  

Gas drillers cancel lease with northeast Pa. landowners-. delcotimes.com
Two energy companies are pulling out of northeastern Pennsylvania, where a three-year moratorium on gas drilling has infuriated landowners who say it’s now cost them a windfall of more than $187 million.

Measure aims to keep fracking wastewater out of NJ

TRENTON, N.J. (AP) — New Jersey lawmakers will consider legislation aimed at keeping wastewater from hydraulic fracturing in Pennsylvania from entering the Garden State.

The Senate's Environment committee approved a similar measure last week, and also voted earlier this year voted to ban the practice known as fracking. Article   6/14/2012 

May 2009 - •Today there is no drilling in Wayne County

In May 2009 the commission, which includes the governors of Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware, and New York as well as a representative from the Army Corps of Engineers, declared that gas companies wanting to drill in Wayne County would need a permit from the DRBC as well as from the state of Pennsylvania. Land men started pulling out of Wayne, according to local townspeople. A year later the commission announced that it would not issue permits and would study the impact of fracking.

Financial woes shake the DRBC

3 of the 5 commission members have either shrunk payments or stopped paying.  March 06, 2012|By Sandy Bauers, Inquirer Staff Writer  Maya van Rossum: A hard line on drilling.The financial noose is tightening for the Delaware River Basin Commission, the arbiter of whether natural gas drilling will occur in the watershed. Pennsylvania, which is upset that the commission has yet to authorize drilling, has withheld two quarterly payments to it. A state budget document shows Pennsylvania froze its allocation in January, reducing its payments to the DRBC by 40.7 percent this fiscal year. Meanwhile, New York has steadily shrunk its payments over the last few years, and in its proposed 2013 budget, it will pay about 40 percent of its agreed-upon fair share of the commission's revenue. This is causing worry that the commission - a national model formed by a federal compact 50 years ago - could fall apart.

• New Legislation - no NPDES stormwater permit required for drilling
• The Marcellus Shale: Resources for Stakeholders in the Upper Delaware Watershed Region
• The Delaware River Basin Commission (DRBC), held an informal conference followed by a public hearing on Wednesday, May 11, 2011. The hearing was part of the Commission’s regular business meeting. The conference session and business meeting both were open to the public and were held at the West Trenton Volunteer Fire Company, located at 40 West Upper Ferry Road, West Trenton, New Jersey.
• For those who haven't seen it, www.nature.org/paenergy is an excellent Nature Conservancy site with good maps of Marcellus well locations in PA.
• Notice of Rules Proposals NJ DEP--http://www.nj.gov/dep/rules/notices.html

January 24, 2011

DRBC ANNOUNCES PUBLIC HEARINGS ON DRAFT NATURAL GAS REGULATIONS

Hinchey Challenges Assertions of Army Corps of Engineers Regarding Federal Role in DRBC Regulation of Gas Exploration and Drilling in Delaware River Basin

Middletown, NY - Congressman Maurice Hinchey (D-NY) today sent a letter to Brigadier General Peter DeLuca, Commander and Division Engineer for the North Atlantic Division of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, challenging and questioning assertions the general recently made regarding his role as the federal government's representative to the Delaware River Basin Commission (DRBC).