Will you take a picture of a special place in the Delaware River Basin that you don’t want destroyed? Or a picture of your family, your friends, your pets, or an important “reason to protect” the Delaware that you are willing to share with the officials at the Delaware River Basin Commission (DRBC), who will ultimately decide the fate of our treasured river valley?

November 21 will be the second Anniversary of the Delaware River Basin Commission’s cancellation of the meeting where they were expected to lift the moratorium on gas drilling by adopting fatally flawed regulations that would open the Watershed to drilling and fracking for gas.

We had mobilized for action at the anticipated meeting but when it was cancelled we were delighted to be able to turn from action to celebration.  A celebratory rally on the steps of the Trenton War Memorial, where the meeting was to have been held, attracted 1,000 people from all over the region – and we pledged that day our resolve to keep the Delaware River watershed frack-free and to work to fight the ravages of the industry everywhere.  We have kept that pledge.  In fact, as of today over 2,000 people have signed the Pledge to Protect the Delaware River from Shale Gas Development and All Its Infrastructure.

November 21, 2011 was the first attempt to lift the prohibition on drilling; a moratorium that had been adopted by a unanimous vote of the five Delaware River Basin Commission (DRBC) members – the Governors of New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Delaware and President Obama’s representative, the Army Corps of Engineers — in May 2010.  We don’t want another attempt, ever!

So we ask all of you to join with us to tell the members of the DRBC what it is about this watershed that you want protected. Please snap a photo of a special place you don’t want destroyed, a picture of your family, your friends, your pets, or an important “reason to protect” that you want to share with these officials who have maintained this moratorium.  You can also use a picture you already have.  We will be binding them together in a scrapbook that we will present to the Commissioners at their December 3 public meeting.

On November 21 people and groups will be celebrating the cancellation of the meeting by gathering at various places for photo shoots to add to the scrapbook.  Please join in with local gatherings as you hear of them or make up your own – creativity welcome!  Don’t’ have time for a gathering?  No worries, you can take your own special photo whenever or wherever you choose, or quietly pick one from your family archives, all the while pondering the importance of the moment.

IMPORTANT: Submit your photo at the latest by November 22, to debra@delawareriverkeeper.org, to make sure we can include it in the scrapbook.

You are also invited to attend the Dec. 3 DRBC meeting when we will present the album and some important messages about drilling and fracking.  More about that to come once the DRBC sets the details of the exact place and time of the December 3 meeting.

In reality, the Delaware has been frack-free since the shale formations were created about 380 million years ago. Let’s make sure it is clean, healthy, drill- and frack-free for millions of years to come!  If you haven’t already signed the pledge to protect the Delaware, please take a moment to do so now and get three friends to do so too.