Marcellus Back in Trenton

On Friday, February 25th, a hundred people attended a hearing with the Delaware River Basin Commission. The DRBC is responsible for regulations of industry in the basin. The whole thing was much lighter than the previous DRBC hearing on July 14th; there was no big demonstration, and only a small pack of pro-drilling landowners attended. The previous hearing may have been the catalyst for the large grassroots group, United for Action, which may have been represented by fifteen people if not more. That hearing in July though, in which many people had to take sessions waiting in the parking lot because of the fire code, was likely the reason why this hearing was held in a very large space; However the room appeared empty for the second half of the early hearing, because almost all of the land owners, or -as it seemed- all of the pro-drilling attendees left at the same time as one big group of some fifteen people or less. In other words, there were less pro-drilling attendees than in the summer, and that became very clear when they all left together. Safe drilling, as it was called, was an enduring position that seemed to have not been present at this hearing; however there were moderate calls for extensions on comment periods, commentary sessions in places other than Trenton, and urging of the DRBC to wait for the EPA study and tests specifically for the Delaware River Basin. Although the DRBC is responsible for regulations, there are people who feel that there is no need for regulations on both sides of the issue. Many landowners expressed that drilling should start as soon as possible, and on the other side, two women disrupted the hearing at the very start by standing on the stage and holding signs that read: "Total Ban."

More Footage at ShannonsOrganiceNews.