WNC hearing on Fracking rules planned

Here’s the press release from Clean Water for NC:

After numerous requests from individuals, organizations and businesses in Western NC, the Mining and Energy Commission voted unanimously to hold a Public Hearing on fracking rules in the west. Public Hearings on rules that will regulate fracking were already scheduled in 3 locations across the state: Raleigh, Sanford, and Reidsville—all more than 4 hours’ drive from western NC, where the state will spend $11,725 exploring for natural gas. Though the date and location are not yet pinned down, it will likely be in early September at Western Carolina University in Cullowhee.

Whether or not exploration in western NC uncover natural gas worth extracting, the region will feel a host of impacts if drilling begins in the state in 2015.

“Now that Senate Bill 786 has passed, lifting the moratorium on issuing of state permits for hydraulic fracturing for gas, possibly as soon as next spring, communities throughout North Carolina need to be aware of the potential implications for them,” says Hope Taylor, Executive Director of Clean Water for North Carolina, a statewide environmental justice non-profit. “Some people and places will be more vulnerable than others to social and economic impacts of natural gas development, as well as possible effects on drinking water, air and traffic.” SB 786, the “Energy Modernization Act,” was signed into law in early June, not only removing the requirement for an additional vote in the General Assembly after regulations are finalized and shrinking the radius of “presumed liability” for drillers from gas wells, but significantly undermining the long-standing right of local governments to protect their residents and resources.

Senate Bill 786 “invalidates” local ordinances that prohibit gas exploration or development and creates a mechanism for industry to challenge local ordinances that would restrict or limit oil and gas companies from exploration or development activities. Such preemption of local government ordinances has been used as a tool by the oil and gas industry in other states to ensure that they only need to deal with relatively weak state regulations. The industry enjoys federal exemption from the Safe Drinking Water Act and many other environmental laws, commonly known as “the Halliburton loophole.” Several communities have expressed increasing interest in passing local protections.

Hydraulic fracturing, or “fracking”, is a process using high-pressure injection of water, sand and chemicals to release natural gas trapped in underground shale formations. The first two Triassic Basins in NC believed to contain natural gas include parts of 15 counties in the central and western piedmont, with the only wells actually demonstrating the presence of gas in Lee County. The Deep and Dan River Basins are estimated by USGS to contain up to a 5.6 year supply of gas if all used in our state (not including new natural gas power plants).

While fracking has been touted by the gas industry and legislative supporters as a source of clean energy and a boost to North Carolina’s economy, the NC Dept. of Commerce estimated in 2012 that an average of 387 jobs per year might be created for a 7 year period. Now, additional Triassic Basins have been identified for exploration in southeastern NC (the Cumberland-Marlboro Basin) and various basins in southwestern NC, a dozen more counties lie in the path possible gas development (see map, based on information from NC Geologic Survey).

Several potential risks to human health and the environment have been identified by residents in communities where fracking is occurring in other states. Health effects ranging from nausea, breathing difficulties, chronic eye and throat irritation have been reported, as well as impaired health of babies born to pregnant women living close to drilling and fracking operations. Many environmental health advocates express deep concern that the state’s previous required area for baseline testing and industry liability for well contamination up to 5,000 feet from gas drilling has now been shrunk by 72% to reach out only to 2,640 feet.

Concerns about health impacts of fracking have also led many states to require the disclosure of most of the industrial chemicals used in the fracking process, some of which are known carcinogens. Under SB786, oil and gas companies would be allowed to apply for “trade secret” status for some components of their frack fluids, allowing them to avoid public disclosure. The fracking process also consumes millions of gallons of water per “frack”, which can deplete local water supplies. About 30% of the frack fluid injected flows back up the well, laden with high salt, toxic substances and sometimes radioactive materials. Draft oil and gas rules have not prescribed a safe treatment or disposal method for the fracking “flowback” or other wastes. Earthquakes and increased seismic activity in states such as Ohio and Oklahoma have been related to high volume injection wells used for disposal of fracking wastewater.

A very controversial aspect of gas drilling and fracking in NC that SB 786 failed to update is “compulsory pooling,” commonly referred to as “forced pooling.” First established by the 1945 Oil and Gas Conservation Act, forced pooling could compel a landowner opposed to drilling or fracking on or under their land to accept horizontal drilling and fracking if a certain percentage of land around them has been leased for gas. Much of the gas extracted is likely to be exported, due to higher prices in Asia and Europe, accelerating new pipeline construction, which could cross private land using eminent domain.

The Mining and Energy Commission will hold three public hearings in August, part of a public comment period lasting from July 15 to September 15. Public hearings will be held in Raleigh on August 20, Sanford on August 22 and Reidsville on August 25, with additional hearings requested for more distant areas facing possible direct impacts of fracking. The MEC is expected to finalize the oil and gas rules before the end of 2014, with possible issuance of permits by spring of 2015. Public involvement to get the most protective rules possible is strongly encouraged.
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For more information about fracking and its impact in your community, or for a community presentation on fracking, contact Clean Water for NC, hope@cwfnc.org or 919-401-9600.

If you have been offered a mineral rights lease by a “landman”, please contact James Robinson of Rural Advancement Foundation International—USA at: james@rafiusa.org or 919-542-1396 x209.

For a schedule of Mining and Energy Commission public hearings, visit http://portal.ncdenr.org/web/mining-and-energy-commission/2014-meeting-schedules-and-agendas