PHILLIPSBURG — Gov. Phil Murphy has announced he will join the governors of Pennsylvania, New York and Delaware to support a ban on fracking in the 3,000-square-mile Delaware River watershed.
Murphy called fracking "one of modern times' most damaging threats." Its use of chemicals, and their ability to pollute water systems, puts at risk the health and safety of people and the economic life of Delaware River towns, he said.
It was the latest of several environmental actions Murphy took last week.
On Monday he signed an executive order for New Jersey to rejoin the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative; Tuesday he withdrew the state from West Virginia v. Environmental Protection Agency, in which some states sued to undo Clean Power Plan regulations; and Wednesday he signed an order to jump-start the state's offshore wind energy industry.
“Gov. Murphy is stepping up to protect the 17 million people who depend on the region for drinking water from the hazards of fracking, including the over three million in New Jersey," said New Jersey Sierra Club Director Jeff Tittel. “Phil Murphy has done more for the environment and clean energy this week than Chris Christie did in his entire eight years as governor.”
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Ed Potosnak, executive director of the New Jersey League of Conservation Voters, said Murphy's action "shows his commitment to protecting the drinking water of all New Jerseyans, as well as the eco-economy that is so important to towns up and down the Delaware.”
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