The Nervous Nellies at the Delaware Riverkeeper Are Acting Like Cats on A Hot Tin Roof. Is It Their Conscience?

The Delaware RiverKeeper Network, a/k/a the PovertyKeeper, is acting mighty nervous these days, like a cat on a hot tin roof, as they say. Why? It seems the whole company has been running around with their hair on fire ever since Congressman Rob Bresnahan held a meeting in the Poconos with EPA head Lee Zeldin and a bunch of us who actually care about the economic future of the region. The PovertyKeeper outfit, of course, could care less. It’s focused in serving the interest of Pennsylvania’s elites. You know, the trustfunders from Haas, Heinz, Wallace, and other uber-wealthy families who fund it.

The latest PovertyKeeper initiative suggests it’s very worried the Trump Adminstration is going to call it and the corrupt Delaware River Basin Commission (DRBC) members to task for politicizing water quality on the Delaware while acting entirely differently while wearing their Susquehanna River Basin Commission (SRBC) hats. They know they’re vulnerable on that score, and we now have a President who, one hopes, might do something about. I'd say, in fact, they quite guilty consciences because that’s the only thing that can explain this laughable tirade from the PovertyKeeper and friends:

Standing in Defense of the Delaware River Watershed Organizations Vow: Attacks to be Rebuffed by Pledge to Resist 

Delaware River Watershed - Organizations announced that they are rallying to protec  the Delaware River Watershed against all attackers of its communities and environment. The groups, many of whom are in the long-running Delaware River Frack  Ban and Climate Action Coalition, have vowed – through the adoption of a Pledge of Resistance and Protection – to resist all hostile attempts to overtake the Delaware River  Watershed. The Pledge is being signed by people who will take action as needed to carry it out.  

According to the Coalition, recent moves by federal legislators have revealed an effort  by fracking and other special interests to overturn the Delaware River Basin  Commission’s ban on fracking. This would interfere with fair and equitable watershed  governance and protection performed by the Commission.  

Recent attempts at strong-arm tactics by federal government officials include a closed door meeting between officials and pro-fracking interests in Wayne County, as well as a  resolution from the federal representative to the DRBC to eliminate funding for DEI and  climate initiatives, as detailed below: 

Closed-door meeting between EPA Secretary Lee Zeldin, Representative Bresnahan  and pro-fracking interests in Wayne County: 

In March, Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Lee Zeldin traveled to  the Upper Delaware to meet with Representative Bresnahan and, according to a news  account, “local pro-fracking industry figures, advocates and elected officials”. News  articles reported that they talked about the need to develop the natural gas resources in  the Delaware River Basin and unleash “energy dominance.”

Congressman Bresnahan’s  office issued a press release documenting the discussion and who attended the  meeting. During a subsequent telephonic town hall, Representative Bresnahan doubled  down, saying he expected support from the EPA to “…help get our gas rights back…”  and to capitalize “…on energy under our feet” and “…natural gas extraction.” He also stated, “I’m committed to reigning in bureaucratic groups like the DRBC.” The DRBC  was not invited and did not attend the meeting. 

“The misuse of power demonstrated by Congressman Bresnahan, EPA Administrator  Lee Zeldin and others in the federal administration to interfere with the authority and  independence of the DRBC, and to do so in a way that strips states of their equitable  power to protect the River essential to all of our lives, is reprehensible. But we the  people of the Delaware River watershed will use our democratic and constitutional  rights to defend our River and region. We will not be intimidated into silence or  acquiescence," said Maya van Rossum, the Delaware Riverkeeper and leader of  the Delaware Riverkeeper Network. 

Resolution from the federal representative to the DRBC to eliminate DEI and climate: At their June 11 business meeting, DRBC unanimously adopted a resolution put forward  by the Army Corps of Engineers who represents the federal government on the  Commission that, “...the Commission must not use federal funds awarded through the  Corps to support policies or programs that advance the principles of diversity, equity  and inclusion’ or the concept of ‘climate change’". 

According to the Coalition, the Pledge of Resistance and Protection pushes back  against these strong-arm tactics attempting to force people living in the Delaware River  Basin to accept the Trump Administration's political agenda pushing fossil fuels,  specifically fracked gas, feigning an "energy emergency”, and denying the need for  diversity, equity and inclusion in the Watershed’s communities, and prohibiting the  recognition of the climate crisis. Organizations have sent letters to the DRBC  Commissioners and to Congressman Bresnahan, objecting to these actions and  pledging support for the DRBC as they defend the ban on fracking and resist a  senseless, hostile, and wasteful dissection of their agency. 

Federal legislation:  

Legislation (HR3428) introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives by freshman  Congressman Rob Bresnahan (PA-08) to probe the Delaware River Basin Commission  and 2 other Compact Commissions. The bill orders a review by the U.S. Comptroller  General of the Commissions’ funding, duties, policies and practices.  

“This attempt to poke around the DRBC’s inner workings is nothing more than a  politically motivated witch hunt, designed to intimidate and disrupt the DRBC, and is a  waste of taxpayer money and agency resources,” said Tracy Carluccio, Deputy  Director of the Delaware Riverkeeper Network.

B. Arrindell, Director of Damascus Citizens for Sustainability stated, “Just as New  York declared a ban of high volume hydraulic fracturing (or fracking), because of health  concerns related to fracking, and the DRBC about 6 years later also banned fracking in  the Delaware Basin out of concern about damage to the resources DRBC exists to   protect, we assure everyone that nothing has changed - fracking processes are still  causing human and environmental health damages as detailed in the 9th edition of  the Compendium and many media and personal accounts.

That Mr. Bresnahan  and other special interests are making efforts to overturn the DRBC’s ban on fracking  reflects their support of those special interests and not the interests of the people who  call the Delaware Basin home now and in the future. The DRBC has done their job  keeping the water clean and providing equitable watershed governance and must not  be interfered with out of short-term monetary desires that will sacrifice our long-term health protections”. 

The PLEDGE: 

The Coalition has launched the Pledge to Defend the Delaware River Watershed from  fracking. The Pledge will be signed by individuals, stating “I Take This Pledge of  Resistance and Protection…in solidarity to uphold the ban on high volume hydraulic  fracturing (“fracking”) and to resist all the harmful activities that fossil gas/oil  development brings.”  

A permanent ban prohibiting fracking in the Delaware River Watershed was adopted by  the DRBC in February 2021 following a moratorium on gas drilling instituted in 2010 and  after more than ten years of comprehensive research and public deliberation. Groups  are bringing the Pledge in person to street events and markets, online to members and  through social media to invite people to take a stand for the Watershed. 

Representatives of organizations point out that a “take over” of the DRBC would not be  a simple matter. The agency was founded in 1961, resulting from a Supreme Court  Decree that formed an intergovernmental Compact. The Watershed states each  adopted statutes to institute the very powerful Commission, and the DRBC has its own  Rules of Practice and Procedure, regulations, and Comprehensive Plan, developed  over the past six decades.

The federal member on the Commission, the Army Corps of  Engineers, is only one vote, with the 4 watershed states - New York, New Jersey,  Pennsylvania, and Delaware - comprising the voting majority. The establishment of an  agency dedicated to a watershed-based approach to planning, management, and  protection of the environment was and still is groundbreaking and set in motion decades  of action benefitting the waters that the states share. 

"Before the DRBC was created, the Delaware River Basin was a management  boondoggle of about 43 state agencies, 14 interstate agencies, and 19 federal agencies, all trying to wade through the needs of the Basin with their various expertise, tools, and  powers. The need for a more organized body was showing. The DRBC was created not  as a power grab attempt, but as a mutual understanding between the 4 states and the  federal government that a centralized decision-making body would only be of benefit to  the Basin and its communities.

As President Kennedy said during the signing of the  Delaware River Basin Compact "The task set for the Commission will not be easy to  achieve, but we are confident that the cooperation that has brought forth this Compact  will endure, and that working together real progress can be made for the people of the  Basin," said Karen Feridun, Founder, Berks Gas Truth. 

Up to 17 million people rely on the Delaware River for water every day, including New  York City, metropolitan Philadelphia, and millions in rural areas. Water supplies  contribute $3.82 billion in annual value to the regional economy and water quality brings  $2.5M in annual economic benefit to the Basin, according to a study out of the  University of Delaware. The Delaware River is the longest free-flowing river east of  the Mississippi and was the second river to be designated as a Wild and Scenic River  by the U.S. Congress.  

"Low-income communities and communities of color experience and are likely to  continue experiencing the consequences of fracking first and worse than other  communities, which is why Catskill Mountainkeeper stands with our allies in  supporting the DRBC's ban on fracking in the Delaware River Watershed. Not  only are we protecting precious drinking water and natural resources, we are also  rallying behind communities to protect their right to a clean and healthy  environment," said Taylor Jaffe, Catskill Mountainkeeper's Program  Manager. 

The Coalition points out that people have worked and communities have strived for  years upon years to protect and defend the Delaware River Watershed and improve it  where needed. These investments are not easily taken away and certainly won't be  surrendered by the public and those who have pledged to resist putting any of these  values in jeopardy.

It’s frantic blather, of course, starting with the old and long-outdated claim that the Delaware River Basin supplies water for 17 million people (it’s actually about 14.2 million) but that’s a trivial point. The big lie is that the same governing majority that permits fracking in the Susquehanna River Basin with more than 15 years proof that it has had no discernible impact on stream water quality, has pretended it’s somehow a threat to the Delaware. All this has been to satisfy the demands of wealthy, spoiled elites who have thrown millions of tax-exempt dollars at the PovertyKeeper and the other NGOs quoted in the news release.

It’s the same old script. The radicals label those of us who merely want economic justice as the extremists they truly are. They shriek about water quality while ignoring the SRBC record. They cite junk science to support their positions. They ignore the economic obligations of the DRBC, as their funders throw money at that agency as well. Nothing has changed with them, but one thing has changed. There’s a new sheriff in town who might do something about their chicanery. They’re scared the whole con is going to implode, and they ought to be, because they’ve got nothing new to offer and no one buys their crap anymore.

#DRBC #SRBC #Fracking #Trump #DelawareRiverKeeper #DelawarePovertyKeeper