The new rules do not include a ban on exporting water from the basin for use in fracking elsewhere.
“The draft amendments establish the circumstances under which proposed exportations that meet the Commission’s existing threshold for review may be considered for approval,” the DRBC says in a summary of the proposal. “Under the proposed rule, the Commission may approve an exportation of water if the export is needed to serve a straddled or adjacent public water system; if it is required on a temporary, short-term or emergency basis to meet public health and safety needs; or if it comprises an exportation of wastewater.”
