REGION — The Delaware River Basin Commission (DRBC) permanently banned high volume hydraulic fracturing (fracking) throughout the Delaware River Watershed last week after many years of battles between environmental activists and the natural gas industry.

The moratorium affects the four states in the watershed, including northeast Pennsylvania and southern New York.

“Today's vote is a historic victory for all the people who call the Delaware River Basin home and drink the clean water that flows from the Catskills to the Delaware Bay,” said Wes Gillingham, Associate Director of Catskill Mountainkeeper.

The DRBC has jurisdiction over the entire 13,539-square-mile watershed and is charged with the protection of water resources that supply up to 17 million people with drinking water, including in New York City and Philadelphia.

The multi-state and federal agency is made up of the governors of the four states that are part of the Delaware River Watershed (New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, and Delaware) and a federal representative from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

All four governors voted to approve the ban; the Army Corps representative abstained, citing the recent transition to the Biden administration.

The fracking ban comes amid a lawsuit filed on January 11 by Pennsylvania State Senators Gene Yaw and Lisa Baker, the Pennsylvania Senate Republican Caucus and Damascus Township in Wayne County, which sought to overturn the de facto DRBC moratorium on gas drilling, fracking, and related operations in the Delaware River Watershed.

The same day as the ban, the Delaware Riverkeeper Network was granted the right to intervene as defendants in that lawsuit.

Natural gas proponents say fracking is good for business and should be allowed under private property rights.

Pennsylvania Chamber of Business and Industry President and CEO Gene Barr said they were “extremely disappointed” in PA Gov. Tom Wolf's vote.

“The votes by New York, New Jersey and Delaware provide further evidence that these states do not have Pennsylvania's best interests in mind,” Barr said.

The DRBC said its decision was in order to “protect the public health and preserve the waters of the Basin” in accordance with their comprehensive plan.

It was cheered by groups and individuals working to stop fracking in the Delaware River Basin over the last 11 years when it was first brought before the DRBC.

“Frack drilling and related waste create permanent pollution and impact human and environmental health - impacts that the Basin will avoid with this precautionary move,” said Barbara Arrindell, Director of Damascus Citizens for Sustainability. “DCS is proud of the governors that voted for this.”

The vote came during a virtual meeting in which the public was not able to give public comment, which has previously been allowed in meetings over the last years, dating back to the institution of the de facto moratorium on drilling and fracking in the Watershed in 2010.

“This is a powerful moment; our watershed Governors listened to the people and honored their commitments to protect us from the devastations of fracking in our watershed,” said Maya van Rossum, leader of the Delaware Riverkeeper Network.

Mark Ruffalo, a part-time Callicoon resident, said on Twitter, “We WON! After 10 years of work the Delaware River is protected from fracking! Thanks to the tireless work of so many organizations and individuals who made today possible.”

The Delaware is a Wild and Scenic River, with Congressional recognition of its outstanding water quality and natural values and Special Protection Waters regulations adopted by the DRBC that require the river not be degraded.

New York State already instituted a permanent fracking ban in April 2020, five years after Gov. Andrew Cuomo initially banned fracking in the state by executive action.

“This significant action by the DRBC to ban fracking in the Delaware River Basin is critical to enhance and preserve a vital water resource that millions of people access and depend on every day,” Cuomo said.

President Joe Biden in January imposed a moratorium on new oil and gas leases on federal land and water areas, but climate activists say it doesn't go far enough.

Some towns in Sullivan County had previously instituted fracking moratoriums, after public hearings that drew large audiences from both environmental activists and pro-fracking groups, oftentimes clashing at meetings with a standing room only crowd.