Hi —

This time last year, fracking was permanently banned in the Delaware River Basin. It was a huge victory for the 13 million people that rely on the Basin for clean drinking water. But the fossil fuel industry is still allowed to treat and store fracking wastewater in the Basin, where it could contaminate our rivers, streams, and land near homes, hospitals, and schools.

The Delaware River Basin Commission (DRBC) – the agency that protects and manages the Delaware River and land that surrounds it – is taking comments on their draft fracking byproduct management regulations until Monday, February 28. This is our chance to remind the agency that all kinds of fracking activities could undermine the original reason for banning fracking in the first place, which is to protect nearby communities and the families who rely on the Basin for clean drinking water. 

Will you join us in submitting a public comment to the DRBC calling for a complete ban on fracking in the Delaware Basin? 

Fracking wastewater — the leftover by-product of fracking — contains thousands of chemicals that could be radioactive and cancer-causing. Because we don’t have a complete picture of what’s in fracking wastewater, fracked gas companies can’t definitively say these chemicals are safe for human health and consumption, especially when they can’t be filtered out.

Additionally, there is no safe way to treat and dispose of fracking wastewater. And where there's wastewater, there are spills, which endanger the workers at waste treatment facilities who are handling the wastewater and taking the radioactivity home on their bodies and to their families.

What’s worse is that Black, Brown, and low-income communities will be most affected if fracking activities continue, as they are the areas where water treatment facilities are already located. These communities cannot afford to keep investing in more advanced filtration systems to combat corporate greed and the lack of protection from the agencies that were put in place to protect them.

A fracking ban isn’t a true ban if it contains loopholes that prioritize billionaires and corporations over the health of our neighbors, workers, and natural resources. We must call for complete protection for the Delaware River Basin and surrounding communities that the industry can’t game. 

Sign on to our public comment demanding a total ban on fracking in the Delaware Basin that doesn’t allow for wastewater treatment and other loopholes >> 

Thanks for all that you do.

Michelle Giles

Policy Analyst

Conservation Voters of PA

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Conservation Voters of PA
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