Delaware River Drilling Ban Stands

PHILADELPHIA (AP) – A federal judge has thrown out a lawsuit by Republican state lawmakers in Pennsylvania that sought to overturn a ban on gas drilling and hydraulic fracturing in the Delaware River basin. Judge Paul Diamond in Philadelphia ruled that GOP lawmakers had no legal right to sue. Senate Republicans led by Sens. Gene Yaw and Lisa Baker claimed the Delaware River Basin Commission overstepped its authority and usurped the Legislature with its moratorium on natural gas development near the river and its tributaries. Diamond says the dispute “is best resolved through the political process.” But the judge gave four municipalities that had joined the suit permission to refile.