Grassroots Activism Wins Again! Delaware River Basin Fracking Vote Cancelled

delaware river saved

After a lot of pressure from grassroots citizen activists, including from the Sierra Club, which posted a story here on Planetsave about the matter last week, “the vote to allow ‘fracking’ of the Delaware River Basin has been cancelled,” 350.org reports.

Congrats to more citizen activists and the 16 million people who rely on drinking water from the Delaware River Basin. Here’s more from 350.org:

It was thrilling to watch the movement rise up to save the Delaware River. With the support of a powerful coalition, thousands of you put some serious pressure on your governors and signed up to join the massive rally on the day of the scheduled vote. We think it was the largest coordinated campaign against fracking in history.

And here’s the thing: your action did not go unnoticed. People power worked as it should. After receiving thousands of calls and emails, Gov­er­nor Jack Markell of Delaware has definitively said he will vote no on fracking the Delaware — tipping the balance of votes on the 5-person commission and likely leading to the meeting’s cancellation.

And more details from Josh Fox, director of Gasland:

You stopped fracking in the Delaware River Basin for now. You won this round. It is not a complete victory but it is a huge victory. You brought us back from the brink of total devastation.

What cancellation means: The DRBC doesn’t hold a meeting to vote down their regulations. I’ve only ever seen them vote to approve things. Which means they cancel the meeting if they no longer have 3 out of 5 commissioners voting in favor of fracking. Which is exactly what they have done. They don’t cancel meetings often, let alone votes…

This is not a complete victory by any means. We still do not know when the DRBC will reschedule their meeting. Could be ten days, could be a month, could be a year. So stay tuned and stay ready. We will let you know. We will have many more battles before we stop fracking completely in the Delaware River Basin and throughout the nation and the world.

And, since it’s so good, here’s more from 350.org on how this fits into broader issues and how much people power is needed to counter “conventional wisdom” in the energy arena today:

The movement is on a roll now. Last week, we helped stop the Keystone XL pipeline in its tracks, and now we’ve put a solid pause (which might well lead to a full stop!) on fracking of the Delaware River. Just weeks ago, pretty much all of the “experts” thought the Keystone pipeline was a done deal, and the “conventional wisdom” is that there’s no stopping the fracking rush. We’re proving the experts wrong and turning conventional wisdom on it’s head — and we have no intention of stopping any time soon.

So the trainings on Sunday and the action on Monday are both still on. Here’s how Josh Fox explained this morning: “We have just had a major victory, that is true. But there is immense suffering happening and irreparable damage being done across Pennsylvania, across the US and across the world from fracking…we must push ahead.”

If you were planning to join the trainings or the rally, we hope you’ll still take the journey. And if you were on the fence or if this is all news to you: we hope you’ll find a way to get to Trenton and celebrate with us.

To get more info on Monday’s celebration/action in Trenton NJ, stay tuned to the Save the Delaware coalition website.

To get more info on Sunday’s action training sessions in New York City and New Jersey, check the page from our friends at Delaware River Keeper.

Source: 350.org
Delaware River Image via nancydowd

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