Delaware River Basin: Battleground for Drilling

Transcript

HOST OPEN: The Delaware River Basin Commission has released revised guidelines for natural gas drilling in the watershed. After three years of debate, the regulations cold pave the way for drilling in Wayne and Pike counties next year. Carolyn Beeler reports from Philadelphia.

BEELER: The proposed regulations will cap the number of wells that can be drilled in the entire basin at 300 for the first 18 months.

Bob Tudor is deputy director of the Delaware River Basin Commission, which monitors the drinking water of 15-million people. He says after that 18-month period, the Commission will review drilling activities and make adjustments to the rule.

TUDOR: It's probably not a perfect rule right now and there are going to be things that we've learned and we want to be able to adapt and do better in providing for the water resources of the basin.

BEELER: The rules are an updated version of a December 2010 draft. Nearly 70-thousand public comments were submitted after that draft was released. The new regulations increase the amount of money companies must post as an assurance to cover the costs of plugging abandoned wells and remediating pollution from 125-thousand dollars per well to a minimum of 5-million.

The new rules will be voted on at a November 21st meeting.

I'm Carolyn Beeler, in Philadelphia.