Gas Drilling Vote Cancelled Delaware Governor to Vote No

The November 21, 2011 vote to be held at the Trenton War Memorial by the Delaware River Basin Commission has been cancelled according to sources. The vote was to seek approval of regulations that would have allowed shale gas drilling in the Delaware River Basin by the beginning of 2012. The last minute cancellation is the second time this vote has been put off. And this time is believed to be in response to an announcement by the Governor of Delaware that he would vote against the regulatory/drilling proposal.

Delaware Riverkeeper Maya van Rossum praised Governor Markell. “Governor Markell has listened to the will of the people, to the science and to the tremendous environmental and community harm being caused by gas drilling where it is happening. The issue of shale gas drilling has finally moved out of the political arena and is now being treated as an issue of genuine public policy concern,” said Delaware Riverkeeper van Rossum.

“The residents of this region stood firm and demanded protection from the ravages of gas drilling; forcing the politicians to listen or risk their political ambitions,” van Rossum added.

While official announcement of the cancelled meeting has not yet been provided by the DRBC, the Delaware Riverkeeper Network confirmed this evening the availability of the Trenton War Memorial venue, considering it for their own uses, confirming its source information that the meeting has in fact been cancelled.

“This is a big win for our communities,” said Tracy Carluccio, Deputy Director of the Delaware Riverkeeper Network. “For the past month citizens have been writing letters, sending emails, and leaving phone messages for their elected officials – while at first they didn’t want to hear us, enough people reached out that they have been forced to.”

“This is a big win for the River and the region” concluded van Rossum, “Now we just need to put the nail in the coffin and make sure gas drilling in the Delaware River watershed stays down and out of our basin.”

Contacts:

Maya K. van Rossum, the Delaware Riverkeeper 215 801 3043 cell

Tracy Carluccio, Deputy Director, Delaware Riverkeeper Network, 215 692 2329 cell

 www.delawareriverkeeper.org