BRISTOL, PA – A new report by the Delaware Riverkeeper Network documents  the economic value of a healthy and clean Delaware River in terms of jobs, property values, tourism, and commercial fisheries.

That pristine beauty of the Upper Delaware could be negatively impacted in several ways by hydro-fracturing of the Marcellus shale formation to mine for natural gas, Delaware Riverkeeper Maya van Rossum told PoconoNews.Net.

“By introducing toxins into ecosystem that could make their way aquifers, streams and into the main stem Delaware; two, by using massive volumes of millions of gallons of water to drill each one of the wells, which sucks that water out of the Delaware River streams, aquifers and system; and then, three, through all of the development that is going to have to take place to accommodate that drilling in terms of roads and drill pads and cleaning of forestlands and natural areas,” she said.

Meanwhile, New York Congressman Maurice Hinchey (D-Hurley) called on the Delaware River Basin Commission to conduct an environmental impact study on the cumulative effects of natural gas extraction water withdrawals. The study should occur before the commission considers any water withdrawal applications, he said, Thursday.