In February 2021, the Delaware River Basin Commission, citing threats to drinking water for 13 million people, voted to ban fracking in the 13,500-square mile region. Representatives of Delaware, New Jersey, New York, and Pennsylvania voted unanimously to approve the measure, which makes permanent a 2010 moratorium imposed by the commission. The commission cited “significant immediate and long-term risks” from gas extraction, saying in a resolution that drillers have “adversely impacted surface-water and groundwater resources, including sources of drinking water, and have harmed aquatic life in some regions.”
The ban applies to the entire watershed but, practically speaking, impacts Wayne and Pike counties in Pennsylvania’s northeastern tip. Both are part of the nation’s largest gas field, the Marcellus Shale.