Three groups have filed a lawsuit against the Delaware River Basin Commission (DRBC) and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers over the issue of hydraulic fracturing. The groups are the National Parks Conservation Association (NPCA) the Delaware RiverKeeper Network and the Columbia Environmental Law Clinic.

The groups’charge, made frequently in the past, is that the DRBC and the Army Corps of Engineers should not allow drilling in the Delaware River Basin until its impacts are better understood. An August 4 press release said, “The impacts to water quality and quantity, air quality, recreation and the wildlife within and near treasured lands like the Upper Delaware National Scenic and Recreational River and Delaware Water Gap could be severe, and should be analyzed in an environmental impact study before drilling moves.”

“When it comes to natural gas drilling in the Delaware River Watershed, the public has not had equal voice in the debate with the politicians and the drillers,” said Delaware Riverkeeper Maya van Rossum. “The DRBC and the Army Corps have both rejected their obligation to protect the river and the common good by issuing draft gas rules without the required comprehensive environmental studies. They have allowed politics and their annual budget to drive the drilling debate within their agencies.”

A number of environmental organizations have argued that as a federal agency DRBC is required under the National Environmental Protection Act to conduct an environmental impact study. The argument from the DRBC has been that it is not a federal agency.

According to various sources, the agency has also argued that while a study might be needed, there is no money to conduct one. But some critics, such as Barbara Arrindell, one of the founders of Damascus Citizens for Sustainability (DCS), said the DRBC could require the industry to pay for the study, and they have not yet considered that as an option.

DCS has separately filed a lawsuit against DRBC and the Army Corps, but their suit also names the National Park Service (NPS), the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) and numerous other agencies that make up the federal component of the DRBC.

Arrindell said the Army Corps sits at the table, but other agencies also have a role to play in the decision-making process. Some of the other agencies, such as NPS and FWS, have written letters saying that an environmental impact study should be completed before regulations are completed.

Arrindell said the DSC lawsuit calls not only for an environmental impact study, but also a study of the effects of fracking on human health, which, according to the group, has so far been largely ignored in the ongoing debate about gas drilling in the Marcellus Shale.

In a related development, an attorney for the government plans to ask a U.S. district judge to dismiss a similar suit against the Army Corps of Engineers and the DRBC filed by New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman on May 31.

According to Legal Newsline (www.legalnewsline.com), U.S. Attorney Loretta E. Lynch is arguing that Schneiderman does not have standing to bring the suit, and also that he filed the suit prematurely because the DRBC rulemaking process has not yet been completed.