Pennsylvania and New Jersey were expected to vote yes, while New York was thought to be voting no. It was less clear which way the vote would go from the fifth commission member - the Army Corps of Engineers, representing the federal government.
Either way, there was a likelihood of a 3-2 vote, a glaring lack of consensus on a prominent issue that was potentially going to split on party lines, said Maya van Rossum, head of the nonprofit Delaware Riverkeeper Network.
"The intelligence that we're gathering is that when Delaware announced that it was not going to support the regulations, essentially the feds and New Jersey got cold feet," van Rossum said.
Larry Ragonese, a spokesman for the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection, said that the agency viewed the proposed regulations as strongly protective of the environment, but that there was no rush if changes were needed.
"If other states still have questions that they feel need to be addressed, we would obviously want them to have an opportunity to make sure they can resolve those issues," Ragonese said. "The goal is to get it done correctly."
Gov. Corbett, on the other hand, voiced impatience. "Pennsylvania is ready to move forward now," he said in a news release, charging that the delay was "driven more by politics than sound science."
In a statement, the president of the industry's Marcellus Shale Coalition, Kathryn Klaber, also urged action, arguing that drilling has lead to more jobs and access to cleaner-burning fuel.
"The vocal minority calling for less energy development are simply ignoring the American people's basic needs," Klaber said.
