Carolina Public Press: fracking study planned for WNC site *UPDATED*

From Carolina Public Press

Nov. 21 update: In a follow up story, Carolina Public Press reports that the N.C. Department of Environment and Natural Resources is giving contradictory accounts on WNC gas exploration, but reveals an area of interest.

“DENR public information officer Jamie Kritzer on Wednesday identified the location of the potential study, which had not been previously disclosed,” reports Carolina Public Press. “It would include parts of North Carolina’s seven westernmost counties: Cherokee, Clay, Graham, Haywood, Jackson, Macon and Swain.” However, the report continues: “‘At this time, DENR does not have an appropriation from the General Assembly needed to conduct testing in Western North Carolina,’ he said.”

An excerpt from the original Nov. 20 Carolina Public Press story:

For the first time, the N.C. Department of Environment and Natural Resources has said it plans to study a site in Western North Carolina to assess its feasibility for hydraulic fracturing, or “fracking.” The exact location of the site has not been disclosed.

The study plan was revealed Nov. 13 in testimony by DENR Assistant Secretary for the Environment Mitch Gillespie, a former state representative from McDowell County who is a major fracking proponent, before the state legislature’s Environmental Review Commission. (See a copy of Gillespie’s presentation below.)

Mitch Gillespie, a longtime fracking proponent from Marion, resigned his state House seat in January to take a senior post in the N.C. Department of Environment and Natural Resources. Last week, he announced a small fracking study planned for a site in WNC. Photo courtesy N.C. General Assembly.

As part of an “update on energy issues” for the commission, Gillespie presented a provisional list of fracking-feasibility studies that DENR plans to conduct. Most of the sites on the list are located in the Piedmont and the Coastal Plain, areas of the state previously identified as the ones most likely to hold deposits of natural gas that could be extracted by fracking. But the list included a rare mention of a site in the mountain area, identified only as a “precambrian rift basin” in “western NC.”

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About Jake Frankel
Jake Frankel is an award-winning journalist who enjoys covering a wide range of topics, from politics and government to business, education and entertainment.

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0 thoughts on “Carolina Public Press: fracking study planned for WNC site *UPDATED*

  1. bsummers

    “Why the secrecy?”

    Yeah, it’s not like anybody would freak out over it or anything…

  2. Jonathan Wainscott

    What’s that stuff them motherfrackers use s’much of? That chemical… dang, whatsitcalled… Oh, yeah…water. But they will pay for the water and create jobs provide infrastructure improvement. What is the problem?. Whatever we do we must let them take as much water as they want and control as little of it ourselves. That’s what we should do.

  3. bsummers

    “‘At this time, DENR does not have an appropriation from the General Assembly needed to conduct testing in Western North Carolina,’ he said.”

    You mean other than the $12K we already know about?

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