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NEWS July 8, 2011 Seven Lakes Times 11
Save Our Sandhills to host ‘fracking’ discussion
Save Our Sandhills will
host a forum on fracking for
shale gas in North Carolina
on Thursday, July 28 at 7
pm, at the Southern Pines
Civic Club, at the corner of
Ashe Street and Pennsylvania
Avenue.
The forum will follow up
the recent local screening of
the movie GASLAND with an
open question–and-answer
panel discussion that will
feature Senator Harris Blake
and Representative Jamie
Boles explaining their support
for North Carolina’s Senate
Bill 709 and House Bill 242.
Both bills, in slightly different
ways, take the first steps
towards allowing “fracking”
for shale gas in the state.
Senate Bill 709 was
opposed by the environmental
community and vetoed by
Governor Bev Perdue, but
the General Assembly may
attempt to override that veto
when they reconvene later
this month. House Bill 242,
which takes a more cautious
approach to fracking, was
signed by the Governor.
Moore County may
have shale gas deposits
There is a natural gas
drilling boom sweeping across
the United States, and it is
about to reach Lee County
and northern Moore County.
Geologists believe that there
is a major sub-basin of natural
gas that extends from
Granville County above
Durham southward through
the Sanford area and into
Moore County to the vicinity
of Carthage. It’s been estimated
that this area could
yield as much as a 40-year
supply of natural gas.
Fracking of natural gas
wells would take place in
northern Moore County within
the Triassic Deep River
Basin/Sanford Sub-basin.
We keep hearing that fracking,
or hydraulic fracturing,
has been around for decades.
Therefore, why the big fuss
now?
Until recently, natural gas
drilling consisted of “vertical”
wells being drilled or fracked
in order to retrieve the gas
from porous rocks such as
limestone and sandstone.
Other gas in tight rock formations,
such as shale, tight
sand and coal beds, was
uneconomical to extract until
fracking with “horizontal”
wells was conceived.
This method of drilling
involves injecting more than
a million gallons of water
and sand, along with a mix
of chemicals under high pressure
into the rock formation
to release the gas.
Both fracking and horizontal
drilling are currently prohibited
by state law in North
Carolina, but House Bill 242
and Senate Bill 709 would
set the state on a path to
lifting those prohibitions.
Process uses large
amounts of water
Water is a perennial concern
in the Sandhills, both
in terms of quantity and quality.
In fact, Moore County
finds it necessary to garner
water outside of its borders.
North Carolina has yet to
create a statewide water management
system. As a result,
users who consume over
100,000 gallons of water of
day must merely document
what they use. They are not
restricted in any way.
In addition to Senator Blake
and Representative Boles,
the SOS forum will feature
experts including an attorney
from Southern Environmental
Law Center and a mineral
rights coordinator from Rural
Advancement Foundation
International.
The panel is expected to
address questions and concerns
including:
• What are the true economic
benefits and costs of shale
gas drilling?
• What potential does the
shale gas industry have to
create jobs, as well as royalty
payments to landowners?
• Given the tremendous
amounts of water required
for the fracking process,
who gets first rights to
water: drillers, farmers,
residents, other businesses?
Is there enough water
to go around?
• Could our ground water
and, therefore, our drinking
water be contaminated by
chemicals?
• Would drillers be required
to treat the wastewater produced
by the fracking
process? If so, would wastewater
treatment plants be
apprised of all the chemicals
in order to know how
— and whether — the
water can be treated?
• What will be the environmental
effects of the fracking
wastewater containment
ponds?
As more and more natural
gas reserves are discovered
in the US, these questions
are being raised — and
answered in different ways
— in states from North Dakota
to Texas, New York, and
Pennsylvania.
With two “fracking” bills
passed in North Carolina’s
General Assembly — and one
signed by the governor —
citizens need to become
informed about the issues
surrounding fracking.
The SOS forum on fracking
will meet Thursday, July 28
at 7 pm, in the Southern
Pines Civic Club at the corner
of Ashe Street and Pennsylvania
Avenue.
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