NARROWSBURG — The Upper Delaware Council (UDC) will host a public presentation titled “Water Resource and Environmental Considerations with Shale Gas Development in the Appalachian Basin” on Thursday, January 5, beginning at 7 p.m. at the Upper Delaware Council office, 211 Bridge St.

The program will be delivered virtually by David Yoxtheimer, assistant research professor and extension associate with the Marcellus Center for Outreach and Research at Penn State University (PSU).

Yoxtheimer works with the Earth and Environmental Systems Institute Unit at PSU, and brings an expertise in hydrogeology, the energy-water nexus, unconventional resource geology, drilling and fracturing technologies, and shale energy fluids management.

The UDC previously hosted Dr. Yoxtheimer on December 7, 2017 to discuss the experience of shale gas development in the Susquehanna River Basin as debate was underway over draft natural gas regulations. Drilling was eventually prohibited in the Delaware River Basin as of February 2021.

New York State had enacted its ban in 2015. More recently, on December 7, the Delaware River Basin Commission finalized its regulations pertaining to the importation and exportation of water and treatment of wastewater associated with high volume hydraulic fracturing.

Yoxtheimer will share up-to-date information on the shale gas industry and its impacts.

The UDC’s business meeting to follow will include the election of officers for 2023; status reports from the Delaware River Basin Commission, New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, National Park Service and the UDC executive director; discussion of old and new business; and public comment.

All UDC meetings are open to the public and are currently held in person and with a Zoom option to participate remotely. To request the link, call the UDC office at 845/252-3022 or email ashley@upperdelawarecouncil.org.

Check www.upperdelawarecouncil.org or UDC social media pages for any meeting updates.