The General Assembly has passed S 820 and sent it to the Governor. This is the bill that would move North Carolina farther down the road toward extraction of natural gas by hydraulic fracturing and horizontal drilling, a technique which has had serious impact on health, environment, and safety in other states.
Suggested Action:
Call the Governor’s Office and ask her to VETO S 820, the fracking bill. The best number to call is (919) 733-2391. There is a toll-free number, 800-662-7952, but it is automated, so you won’t be speaking to a human being. Or e-mail her at governor.office@nc.gov.
The votes on S 820 were close enough that a veto might well be sustainable. But act quickly. The Governor has to decide this week, and she could do it at any time.
–George Reed, Executive Director
Frank Burns says
June 27, 2012 at 8:47 amFracking will help the economic climate of NC by providing jobs and keeping the cost of energy down. Why would you be opposed to that? There are no documented problems with fracking, any potential problems can be mitigated with proper procedures.
Frank Burns says
June 25, 2012 at 2:00 pmWhy should the governor veto fracking? Can anybody give a good reason? She already stated that she supports fracking. It’s a safe process that will bring prosperity and jobs to this state. The ground water is above 2000 feet depth, the fracking is going on at 5000 feet depth. The ground water has aquacludes under them.
We have an opportunity to obtain cheap natural gas and you want to throw that opportunity away? What is your agenda?
Aleta Payne says
July 2, 2012 at 2:43 pmGovernor Perdue vetoed S820 this weekend because of her stated concerns that the legislation did not go far enough to protect water quality and human health. This was certainly a large part of the rationale for the Council’s position that she veto the bill and is well described in the statement of the Rural Life Committee released earlier this year.
The safety of fracking, meanwhile, is not well studied and far from proven. What studies have been done have mixed results. There is concern over the possibility of ground water contamination, induced seismic activity, and methane leaks into the atmosphere that can make fracking more damaging to the environment than burning coal or gas. The chemicals used in the fracking water are substantially undisclosed so their safety or toxicity to the environment and people can neither be assessed nor assumed. Methods of safe disposal of the millions of gallons of chemically contaminated fracking fluid have yet to be developed.
In terms of employment, the experience in other states with fracking has been that it creates either extremely temporary jobs or jobs that are given to skilled workers from out of state.
Contamination of water due to fracking can happen at any point along the drilling pathway, not just from the horizontal portion. Leaks and failures in the shaft are possible and there are documented examples of contaminated water in other states. Once water becomes contaminated with industrial chemicals or gas, it is extremely complex and costly to decontaminate it – if it is possible at all.
Regarding gas production, the latest estimates from the USGS are that there is at most 5.5 years worth of gas at current NC usage levels in the state. Furthermore, natural gas is already extremely inexpensive. The potential damage of legalizing fracking while there remain serious questions about safety and inadequate technical safeguards is not worth the small amount of natural gas NC might harvest.
NCIPL supports aggressive energy conservation and rapid development of clean, renewable energy as part of a healthy 21st Century energy economy. Lifting the legal ban on fracking without fully exploring the risks is not consistent with caring for human health or the environment.
Dr. Kathy Shea, Co-Director, North Carolina Interfaith Power & Light