[naviga:h3]Del. River watershed to get fracking ban[/naviga:h3]

A regulatory agency that monitors the drinking water supply of more than 15 million people is signaling that it will impose a permanent ban on natural gas drilling and hydraulic fracturing in the Delaware River watershed.

The Delaware River Basin Commission announced Monday it will vote on a horizontal drilling and fracking resolution to begin the lengthy process of enacting a formal ban. The resolution says that fracking “presents risks, vulnerabilities and impacts to surface and ground water resources across the country.”

Environmental groups that have long pressed for a ban are upset, however, by provisions that would apparently allow drillers to discharge fracking wastewater in the watershed “where permitted.”

The Associated Press reported last week that regulators planned to replace a seven-year moratorium on natural gas development with a permanent ban.

The Delaware watershed supplies Philadelphia and half of New York City with drinking water.

[naviga:h3]Court stops plan for new pollution rules[/naviga:h3]

SALT LAKE CITY — An appeals court granted a request Monday from President Donald Trump’s administration to halt a plan for new pollution controls at Utah’s oldest coal-fired power plants aimed at reducing haze near national parks.

The development marks a reversal for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, which last year under President Barack Obama unveiled the rules and defended itself in a lawsuit brought by Utah and Rocky Mountain Power.

The 10th Circuit Court of Appeals approved EPA administrator Scott Pruitt’s request to halt that lawsuit while his agency revises a plan that called for new equipment to reduce nitrogen oxide emissions at two coal plants in Emery County.

Environmental and clean air groups expressed dismay over the decision they say rejects EPA research that showed the plan would have cut down haze near Utah’s Arches and Canyonlands national parks.