Fracking

The Delaware River Basin Commission (DRBC) on Monday added two hearings and extended the comment period on proposed regulations regarding hydraulic fracturing activities, giving the public another month to weigh in.

The Trump administration formally rescinded an Obama-era rule governing hydraulic fracturing (fracking) on public and tribal lands on Thursday, bringing an end to nearly three years of legal wrangling that pitted four states, an Indian tribe, environmentalists and energy industry groups against each other.

It was in May, about two years after New York officially banned high volume hydraulic fracturing, that a coalition of more than 40 business, labor and industry interests came together to defend and promote natural gas development in the state.

Two months after regulators in Illinois issued the state’s first permit for high-volume hydraulic fracturing (fracking), the Kansas-based company that received the permit has returned it, citing “burdensome, time consuming and costly” regulations, but also commodity prices.

A Republican state lawmaker from Northeast Pennsylvania plans to soon introduce a resolution urging the Delaware River Basin Commission (DRBC) not to move forward with plans to ban high-volume hydraulic fracturing (fracking) in the 13,539-square mile watershed.

The Delaware River Basin Commission (DRBC) will consider a resolution at its meeting on Wednesday calling for a rulemaking that ultimately could place a ban on hydraulic fracturing (fracking) and related natural gas development activities in the river basin.

Regulators in Illinois have approved the first permit to allow high-volume hydraulic fracturing (fracking) within the Illinois Basin.

Lawyers for the federal government faced off against attorneys representing states and the oil and gas industry in appellate court on Thursday, for oral arguments over an embattled rule governing hydraulic fracturing (fracking) on public and tribal lands.

A coalition of environmental groups said it has amassed more than 63,000 signatures to a petition calling for a permanent ban of hydraulic fracturing (fracking) in the Delaware River Basin and plans this week to deliver it to four governors and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.