Chapel Hill Town Council hosts public hearings on fracking

Ray Covington keeps a sample of oil found on his land in Lee County in a jar.

A co-founder of North Carolina Oil and Gas, Covington refuses to lease his land to a company for hydraulic fracturing for now, citing a lack of regulation protecting landowners and the environment as concerns.

Hydraulic fracturing, commonly known as fracking, uses a highly pressurized water mixture to force natural resources from the ground and is currently illegal in North Carolina.

But a move in the N.C. General Assembly to change that has caused fierce reactions among many — including some Chapel Hill residents — who worry the process could pollute water and air and increase rural traffic.

Mayor Pro Tem Ed Harrison will present an anti-fracking petition at the Chapel Hill Town Council meeting Monday night.

And a public meeting, like one held in Lee County last week, will be held Tuesday night at East Chapel Hill High School to discuss fracking’s pros and cons.

Harrison said he has concerns about how the process could negatively affect Chapel Hill, primarily regarding the lack of say local governments might have.

“We depend on the EPA and the federal government to protect us from pollution, but the fracking industry has succeeded in securing exemptions from a number of national environmental laws,” Harrison said in an email.

He said though the nearest potential locations for fracking are about 15 miles outside of Chapel Hill, the town could see secondary impacts if polluted water is brought into Orange County for treatment.

“One overturned and leaking tanker truck, besides shutting down traffic, would potentially put toxic waste into drinking water,” Harrison said. “This could shut down water supply for hundreds of thousands of residents.”

Jamie Kritzer, spokesman for the N.C. Department of Environment and Natural Resources, said most of the focus on fracking has been in the Sanford sub-base in Lee County, which has the most potential for natural gas resources.

He said a study conducted by the department found that fracking could be done safely in North Carolina with proper regulation.

“If you could put the appropriate measures in place before exploration and development, then it would help North Carolina avoid the problems that other states have seen,” he said.

But some say they are worried oversight will not exist before fracking is legalized ­— or that it won’t go far enough.

Geoff Gisler, staff attorney for the Southern Environmental Law Center, a Virginia-based organization that focuses on environmental issues in the Southeast, said he didn’t think enough research has been done yet to move forward in the process to legalize fracking.

“The short answer is no one’s been able to figure out how to do it safely yet,” he said. “Certain folks are saying it can be done safely, but those folks tend to be the ones who are glossing over potential harm.”

On campus, the UNC Institute for the Environment is working to make sure that students are well-informed of the controversy, said Katie Hall, spokeswoman for the institute.

“The institute’s not taking a position on whether fracking is or is not a good fit for North Carolina,” she said. “What we think our role is is trying to bring as many good minds to campus to get as much information out.”

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