Action Alert | March 10, 2010
Dear Jeff,
We need your help now more than ever. The public comment period has been extended on this important issue. Please visit our online action center and help protect the Upper Delaware River watershed from poorly regulated Marcellus Shale drilling.
Stone Energy Corporation, a Louisiana-based company is requesting permits from the Delaware River Basin Commission for two Marcellus Shale gas drilling projects, one of which would withdraw up to 700,000 gallons of water per day from the West Branch of the Lackawaxen River in the Upper Delaware River watershed.
WHY WE CARE
Stone Energy Corporation is requesting two permits for Marcellus Shale gas drilling projects in Wayne County, Pennsylvania, in the Upper Delaware River watershed. This area has been classified as Special Protection Waters by the Delaware River Basin Commission with “exceptionally high scenic, recreational, ecological and/or water supply values.”
One application seeks to legalize a Marcellus Shale exploration and development project at an existing gas well in Clinton Township that was already drilled in 2008 by Stone Energy without first obtaining approval from the DRBC. The second permit application proposes to withdraw 700,000 gallons of water per day from the West Branch of the Lackawaxen River in Mount Pleasant Township. The water would be used for hydraulic fracturing, the process by which natural gas is extracted from the Marcellus Shale, deep underground.
The West Branch of the Lackawaxen River is a valuable, high-quality coldwater fishery that could be adversely impacted, over time, by the proposed water withdrawal. Stone Energy Corporation has not adequately developed an operational plan showing that fish and other wildlife will not be affected by these water withdrawals. The Upper Delaware River watershed offers one of the finest wild trout fishing destinations in the East and simply cannot afford to be an experiment for water withdrawals and potential toxic contamination related to natural gas drilling activities.
WHAT YOU CAN DO
Tell the DRBC to reject both of the Stone Energy permit applications and not to issue any permits for Marcellus Shale gas drilling activities in the Delaware River watershed until it is has adopted 1) new regulations that include an analysis of, and take into account, the anticipated cumulative impacts of all gas drilling activities in the Delaware River watershed, and 2) an ecologically protective flow management plan for the Upper Delaware River.
Sincerely,
Amy Wolfe
Acting Vice President for Eastern Conservation
Trout Unlimited
Dave Rothrock
Chair
Pennsylvania TU Council
Ron Urban
Chair
New York TU Council
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