The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third District threw out an appeal on Friday that contested the Delaware River Basin Commission’s ban on fracking.
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The appeal was dismissed for a lack of standing after being heard by a panel of three circuit judges. The appeal was brought after a federal judge ruled in June 2021 that the ban was legal.
“What Plaintiffs-Appellants cannot do is seek redress in federal court for broad institutional injuries about which they have no standing to complain,” Circuit Court Judge Julio M. Fuentes wrote in his opinion.
Last June, U.S. District Judge Paul Diamond dismissed the lawsuit that led to the appeal against the ban. The lawsuit was filed by State Sen. Gene Yaw, a Republican from Lycoming County, and State Sen. Lisa Baker, a Republican from Luzerne County, the Pennsylvania Senate Republican caucus, and several local governments. Diamond found the parties had no standing to challenge the ban.
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The Delaware River Basin Commission (DRBC), which is overseen by the governors of Delaware, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, and a representative from the federal government, approved a final rule prohibiting high-volume hydraulic fracturing in February 2021, but a temporary ban had been in place since 2010. The basin provides fresh drinking water for more than 13 million people, including many of those in Bucks County.
In April 2021, Bucks and Montgomery counties joined in support of the ban.
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The Delaware Riverkeeper Network and Delaware Riverkeeper Maya van Rossum were granted intervenor status in the case along with Democratic Pennsylvania state senators Steve Santarsiero, Carloyn Comitta, Amanda Cappelletti, Maria Collett, Wayne Fontana, Art Haywood, Vince Hughes, John Kane, Tim Kearney, Katie Muth, John Sabatina, Nikil Saval, Judy Schwank, Sharif Street, Tina Tartaglione, and Anthony Williams. Bucks and Montgomery counties’ governments also joined in.
Santarsiero, of Lower Makefield Township, celebrated the circuit court’s opinion Friday and called the effort a “misguided effort to overturn the now-permanent ban on fracking in the Delaware River.”
Bristol Borough-based nonprofit Delaware Riverkeeper Network celebrated the circuit court’s decision.
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“In filing this legal action to force fracking on Pennsylvania communities in areas now protected, Senators Yaw and Baker, the Republican Political Caucus, and the municipal officials that have joined them in their action, violated their oath to uphold the constitution of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and their duty to protect the health, safety and rights of all Pennsylvanians and future generations to pure water, clean air and healthy environments. In short, this case was nothing short of political posturing,” said van Rossum, the riverkeeper.
Yaw has previously said the ban will hurt energy security.
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