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Will Democrats Take on Governor Christie and Big Polluters to Protect NJ Drinking Water?

Oil (R), gas (C) and chemical industry (L) lobbyists oppose fracking bills. When Jim Benton (R) of the NJ Petroleum Council talks, people listen.

In the wake of last week’s Trenton hearings by the Delaware River Basin Commission and a scathing investigative expose by the New York Times (see: Regulation Lax as Gas Wells’ Tainted Water Hits Rivers and  Wastewater Recycling No Cure-All in Gas Process and Pressure Limits Efforts to Police Drilling for Gas) today, the Assembly Environment Committee held followup hearings on legislation to restrict fracking.

As expected, lobbyists for the big polluting chemical, oil, and gas industries were out in force.

Back on December 9, the Committee took testimony on A3313 (“a bill that would prohibit hydraulic fracturing (hydrofracking) in the State for the purpose of natural gas exploration or production”), and A3314, (“a bill that would prohibits any New Jersey member of the Delaware River Basin Commission from supporting or voting to support the issuance, by the commission or any other entity, of any permit or other kind of approval to withdraw water for the purposes of hydraulic fracturing for natural gas exploration or production.“)

We wrote about that hearing in this post.

After testifying on those bills back in December, talking with legislative staff, and offering requested amendments, it was my understanding that the bills were going to be expanded and strengthened.

But for some reason, the Committee did a U-turn, abandoned those bills, and instead heard a toothless package of aspirational bills that will not work.

Today, the Committee heard A3653 (Wagner, D-Bergen). This bill establishes a temporary moratorium on the practice of hydraulic fracturing in the State for the purpose of natural gas exploration or production until the United States Environmental Protection Agency has concludes its study and issues its findings on that drilling practice, and the Department of Environmental Protection determines that the findings warrant an end to the moratorium.”

Assemblyman Conaway (D-Burlington)

Assemblyman Conaway set the tone for the hearing by noting that he had viewed the documentary “Gasland” and seen tap water explode.

He asked some tough questions of an industry economist from Virginia.

Conaway asked how the gas industry could claim they were “responsible” and  how they were addressing the externalities and cumulative impacts of thousands of fracking wells, which had poisoned drinking water supplies and individual wells.

The industry economist was literally laughed out of the room when he responded by claiming that the States had tough environmental regulatory oversight of the gas industry.

Assemblyman Barnes had the quote of the day (despite Jeff Tittel’s “Tiki Torch” quip!).

Barnes took exception to an industry economist’s testimony that the legislation would “send the wrong signal to investors” and that “NJ has a bad business climate due to over-regulation and high taxes”.

Asemblyman Barnes (D-Middlesex) (L) and sponsor Assemblywoman Wagner (D-Bergen)

Barnes said that the “signal” he wanted to send “was about clean water”

Noting that what is good for Pennsylvania may not be good for NJ: “Our role is to protect clean water of NJ and take a strong stand with other states that may negatively impact our drinking water.”

At the end of the hearing, prime sponsor Assemblywoman Wagner caucused with Chairman McKeon, who then announced that the sponsor and Committee would work with Senate sponsors to reconcile the Assembly bills with the far stronger Senate package which will be heard on Thursday.

The Assembly Committee then voted to release the bills, by votes along party lines, with the two Republican members (Coyle and Rudder) abstaining.

After the hearing, I spoke briefly with prime sponsor Assemblywoman Wagner, and asked why the stonger mandatory bills were abandoned. She told me that she wanted to “send a signal and take a small step by passing legislation the Governor would sign.”

I tried to warn against this approach, because Governor Christie’s DEP Commissioner has publicly announced support for fracking, has advocated “state primacy” in regulatory oversight of fracking operations, and is now pressuring the DRBC to expedite regulations that allow fracking to happen.

Thankfully, the Senate versions of A3313 and 3314 are up in the Senate Environment Committee on Thursday.

Senate bill (S2575) (Gordon, D-Bergen)  – This bill prohibits any New Jersey member of the Delaware River Basin Commission from supporting or voting to support the issuance, by the commission or any other entity, of any permit or other kind of approval to withdraw water for the purposes of hydraulic fracturing for natural gas exploration or production.

S2576 (Gordon, D-Bergen; Greenstein, D-Mercer/Middlesex) This bill prohibits hydraulic fracturing (:hydrofracking”) in the State for the purpose of natural gas exploration or production.

Delaware Riverkeeper, Sierra Club, NJ Environmental Lobby, NJ Conservation Foundation, Food and Water Watch, Sane Energy Project, and NJ Envrionmental Federation all opposed fracking and urged that the bills be strengthened.

Because I have been critical lately, I will note that I was surprised to hear Dave Pringle provide good testimony, that included implicit criticism of the Christie Administration’s flawed policy at DRBC. Pringle also managed to make Jim Benton of the NJ Petroleum Council lose his cool and whine to the Chair about Pringle’s “second interuption”. This prompted Chairman McKeon to suggest that “you guys can take it outside”.

Given that I tesified back in December, I did not today. We will testify before the Senate on Thursday.

[Important Clarification:

A NJ ban or moratorium on fracking in NJ is a symbolic gesture. Even sponsor Wagner acknowledged this fact, as it is extremely unlikely that any fracking will occur in NJ. There is no Marcellus shale play here, and any gas that is present would be the most expensive to exploit.

The primary threat to NJ from fracking in Pa and NY is to the Delaware River (and more gas pipelines through NJ forests and dangerous gas pipelines through NJ urban areas to serve NY markets).

Accordingly, the only way to block that threat is via the current DRBC moratorium, which would be lifted under deeply flawed proposed DRBC draft regulations.

The Legislature needs to act to set policy, stand up to and direct Governor Christie’s representation on DRBC NOT to vote to approve those regulations.

NJ’s representative on DRBC is DEP Commissioner Bob Martin, who has supported fracking and is seeking to fast track those regulations before the science is in, safer technology is developed, and protective regulations are adopted.

The issue of a NJ moratorium versus ban is Kabuki and a diversion.