ABSTRACT
River Basin Commissions (RBCs), long uncontroversial, have become critical institutions through their role in governing an essential resource in unconventional gas extraction: water. This chapter compares two seemingly similar organizations, the Delaware River Basin Commission and the Susquehanna River Basin Commissions, and their approaches to shale gas governance. Although both began with similar compacts, they have evolved to perceive their regulatory roles differently. While the DRBC sees itself as a public and semi-political governing body, the SRBC considers itself a semi-public technocracy meant to fill a regulatory gap. These differences led the DRBC to impose a politically contentious de facto moratorium while the SRBC quietly but scientifically regulates energy development.
