The Delaware River Basin Commission (DRBC) plans to vote on a water withdrawal application by XTO Energy (a subsidiary of ExxonMobil Corp.) for natural gas development in Broome and Delaware Counties, New York at their regularly scheduled meeting Wednesday, May 11, 2011. They have set a public hearing on the application at the 1:30 pm meeting, West Trenton Volunteer Fire Company, 40 W. Upper Ferry Rd., West Trenton, N.J.
XTO Energy wants to take 0.25 million gallons of water per day from Oquaga Creek, a trout stream that flows to the West Branch of the Delaware River in Broome and Delaware Counties to develop gas wells they plan to drill there. The withdrawal site is on land owned by the Town of Sanford, which has given them access. There is no permit required by NY State; the DRBC provides the only review of this withdrawal.
Approval of this application is SO WRONG for many reasons including: wrong for the Oquaga Creek and the Delaware River; wrong because there is a moratorium on drilling in the Delaware River Watershed and on horizontal drilling/hydrofracking in New York; wrong because the public is shut out of the process...
Please ATTEND the DRBC May 11 Hearing, tell DRBC to hold a Hearing in the Broome County area andextend the public comment period to at least 60 days, and send a letter NOW to the DRBC by going to our website – we only have a few days!
How can the DRBC approve this water withdrawal during its gas drilling moratorium, while its draft gas rules are pending and while New York has a hold on its generic permit for hydraulically fractured-horizontally drilled gas wells while it completes its environmental review? How can they justify pushing this approval ahead when the rules could very well change how this application will be treated? XTO has no permits for gas wells and has not justified its need for any water, much less 250,000 gallons of water every day from this cold water stream. What’s the rush?
DRBC is ignoring the communities who will be most immediately affected by this withdrawal. There is no hearing scheduled in the Oquaga Creek area, in Broome or Delaware Counties where the water would be taken from and the wells would be drilled. Trout fishermen who love this creek and spend lots of time on it have no idea what’s coming. It takes 4 hours to get to West Trenton from Sanford, NY; it not reasonable to expect people to make this trip.
The only other DRBC approved water withdrawal for gas development had a 60+ day public comment period and a Public Hearing in the Upper Delaware last year, near the withdrawal location. One daytime Hearing in West Trenton with only 10 working days notice before a vote is cast deprives everyone, all 15 million of us who drink Delaware River water, of a way to meaningfully participate. We must demand fairness!
New York State is supposed to protect Oquaga Creek, a trout stream, by applying “special requirements to sustain waters that support these valuable and sensitive fisheries resources under NYSDEC Protection of Waters regulations” (DRBC Docket D-2010-022-1, XTO, p. 2). Where is this protection? How will this withdrawal affect the trout, benthic life, and water quality of this richly diverse creek and of the downstream West Branch and main stem Delaware that need the cold fresh flows of the Oquaga to support stream life and water supplies downstream? Neither New York nor the DRBC has analyzed this or supplied an answer. This is flat out wrong.
Speak out now to demand: No water withdrawal, a fair hearing and comment process for all those affected, and protection for the Oquaga Creek!
To sign up in advance to speak at the May 11 Hearing contact paula.schmitt@drbc.state.nj.us or phone Ms. Schmitt at 609-883-9500 ext. 224 and say you want to speak on the XTO proposed Docket.
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