Brian Selander Watches Battlestar Galactica

As you may know, Governor Markell objected to allowing “fracking” in the Delaware River Basin, and thus the Delaware River Basin Commission postponed any action on allowing the controversial and polluting practice from taking place. Fracking is a drilling method that uses large amounts of high-pressure, chemical- and sand-laced water to free natural gas from deep rock layers generally known as the Marcellus Shale. Markell made his decision last November because he was not convinced that draft regulations allowing the practice would sufficiently protect basin waterways and downstream interests.

That has upset the Republican Environmental Secretary (a contradiction in terms) of Pennsylvania.

Miffed by neighboring state refusals to support new Delaware River Basin Commission rules for treating natural gas well wastewater, Republican Michael Krancer told a Wayne County business group that Delaware didn’t really have a dog in the fight and claimed that the First State “smells like the tail of a dog.”

Krancer was quoted by the Wayne Independent last week as saying he was troubled by the DRBC’s failure to act on needed regulations. He claimed the issue was “being driven by the governor of Delaware” and said that he is “not confident the voters of Delaware are going to make the right decision” when choosing the next governor.

Hahahaha. And he should not be confident. His party has been destroyed in Delaware. Governor Markell will be reelected quite easily, in a greater landslide than four years ago.

Lame insults are not unexpected from a Republican. But I was amused by Markell’s chief strategy officer Brian Selander’s response.

“I’m not sure the governor gives a frack about his comments,” Brian Selander, spokesman for Markell, said Thursday. “Pennsylvania’s chief environmental officer spewing noxious rhetoric into Delaware does little to inspire confidence that his office has the inclination or competence to ensure this drilling is done in a manner that protects Delaware’s water resources.”

As any fan of the scifi TV show, Battlestar Galactica, knows, “frack” is a substitute for the colorful metaphor “f*ck” on Earth.