Concerns about water pollution resulting from hydraulic fracturing have landed the Upper Delaware River in New York and Pennsylvania on the annual list of the most endangered U.S. rivers. the environmental group American Rivers releases a "Top 10" list each year with the goal of "focusing attention on environmental threats to waterways," Paul Quinlan of Environment & Energy Daily reports. The list isn't really a top 10, because there are few repeats from year to year; it's a public-relations device. Of the 10 rivers named this year, two are said to be threatened by "fracking," the natural gas drilling process that blasts millions of gallons of water, sand and chemicals far underground to free trapped natural gas.
"We need to study the questions of the risk to the drinking water of 17 million people before we wind up with a Gulf-like disaster," Andrew Fahlund, American Rivers' senior vice president of conservation, said in a comparison between fracking operations and the BP PLC oil blowout in the Gulf of Mexico. (Sounds like a stretch to us, but, hey, that's PR for you.) West Virginia, North Carolina, Iowa, Colorado, Oregon, Idaho and Alabama also had rivers listed as endangered. Three rivers were listed for threats from proposed dams. (Read more, subscription required)
Ongoing mountaintop removal in the Twentymile and Peters Creek watersheds was cited as a major threat to the Gauley River in West Virginia, Ken Ward Jr. of The Charleston Gazette reports. The Monongahela, which also runs through West Virginia, was listed as threatened by fracking by the report. "The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and cooperating agencies must stop the permitting of mine activity that harms the clean water and natural areas that are essential to the health and heritage of Appalachian communities," American Rivers said. (Read more)
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