A parade of speakers queued up at a public hearing in Schnecksville Thursday with most of them asking the Delaware River Basin Commission to completely ban hydraulic fracturing (most commonly known as fracking) and any associated activities.

The hearing at Lehigh Carbon Community College’s main campus attracted 31 speakers. This was the fifth public hearing on the DRBC’s proposal to ban fracking within the 13,539-square-mile river basin. But the DRBC is also proposing to allow exporting surface or groundwater, treated wastewater or mine drainage water from the basin for use in outside fracking activities. And it also proposes requiring commission approval for importing wastewater from fracking wells for treatment within the basin.

Most of the speakers commended the DRBC on its decision to ban fracking, but they were opposed to the idea of having basin water exported to fracking operations outside of the basin then returned for treatment.

Joseph Hoffman of the Sierra Club assailed what he called this inconsistency, likening it to declaring that a car can be dangerous but the exhaust is OK.

Faith Zerbe, a former resident of Pine Grove, Schuylkill County, pointed to the environmental damage done to streams by mine drainage in the anthracite region where she grew up. She compared it to fracking, which is another form of pollution caused by fossil fuels, in this case oil and gas.

[naviga:u]SHOULD THE DRBC BAN FRACKING AND RELATED ACTIVITES? TAKE OUR POLL.[/naviga:u]

Thomas Stinnett, president of Riegelsville Borough Council in Bucks County, presented a copy of a resolution passed by the council and signed by him on Jan. 10 calling on the DRBC to enact a “complete and permanent ban on natural gas development and hydraulic fracturing” along with all related activities, including drilling, fracking and wastewater processing.

Tara Zrinski, a member of Northampton County Council, condemned the approval of the PennEast pipeline, which will run through Carbon and Northampton counties on its way from Luzerne County in northeastern Pennsylvania to Mercer County in central New Jersey.

Instead of looking for alternatives to fossil fuels, she said these new projects are being pushed by companies and politicians. She pleaded for a statewide ban on fracking and a commitment to use renewable energy such as wind, hydropower and solar.

Several speakers clashed on whether the chemicals used in the fracking process are toxic. Dr. Ned Heindel of Williams Township, Northampton County, a Lehigh University professor, said there are 352 chemicals used to induce pressure on the below-ground oil and gas, even more to extract them. He detailed how unsafe these substances are, noting that 25 percent of them contain carcinogens that can impact human health.

Stephanie Wissman, executive director of the Association of Petroleum Industries of Pennsylvania, said that the oil and gas companies engage in safe and responsible energy development and pointed to the heavy restrictions and regulations imposed by state and local government. She said studies have shown that fracking has not caused any adverse effects on drinking water, a statement challenged by many of the speakers.

The DRBC is made up of the governors of Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York and Delaware and a representative of the federal government. Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf is chair of the commission for the 2017-18 fiscal year and will be succeeded by newly elected New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy on July 1. None of the five members or their alternates attended the hearing.

A sixth hearing will be held by telephone using a toll-free number. More details will be released next month. The commission also extended the period for submitting written comments until March 30. These comments must be posted online, unless the person does not have access to a computer, in which case comments can be directed to DRBC, attention: commission secretary, P.O. Box 7360, West Trenton, NJ 08628.

The Delaware River basin includes all of Carbon, Lehigh, Northampton and Monroe counties and about half of Schuylkill County. The basin extends from Delaware County, New York, to Sussex County, Delaware.