Toomey Pushes Regulators On NEPA Gas Production — Sen. Pat Toomey (R-Pa) has requested that the Delaware River Basin Commission (DRBC) finalize natural gas development standards
“The DRBC, a federal-interstate compact created in 1961 to regulate water usage along the Delaware River in Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey, and Delaware, has failed to establish regulations to allow for water to be used for natural gas development,” Toomey said. “This procrastination has become a de facto moratorium on natural gas production and related economic activities in northeastern Pennsylvania at a time when unemployment in the area is still well above the national average.
He notes that the moratorium is “particularly confusing” because a similar federal-interstate compact with the Susquehanna River Basin Commission issued regulations allowing for natural gas production in 2008.