Advocacy group names Upper Delaware River most endangered for 2010, citing gas drilling

Advocates: Upper Delaware most endangered US river

ALBANY, N.Y. — An advocacy group has named the Upper Delaware River the nation’s most endangered.

American Rivers says the Upper Delaware is threatened by plans to drill for natural gas. Energy companies have leased thousands of acres of land in the watershed in hopes of tapping vast stores of natural gas.

The Washington, D.C.-based group says a drilling practice known as “fracking” threatens water supplies. The Upper Delaware supplies drinking water to more than 15 million people in New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania.

The drilling industry says fracking is safe.

The Delaware River Basin Commission announced last month it is drafting regulations for gas drilling in shale formations and will not approve any projects until the new rules are established.