The Pittsboro Town Board voted unanimously Monday night to approve part of an anti-fracking resolution that asks the Legislature to keep the controversial drilling practice illegal. Some board members wanted to further study some of the language in the proposed resolution, but the gist of the sentiment is that no, Pittsboro does not want itself, or anyone, fracked. (Approved language is below the break.)
The board will present this version of the resolution to the N.C. Department of Environment and Natural Resources at a public hearing in Sanford on March 20. The board will then take up entire resolution again on March 26.
Whereas, hydraulic fracturing, or “fracking,” is a method of extracting natural gas that involves injecting, at an extremely high pressure, an undisclosed mixture of water, sand, and toxic chemicals to break up shale or other rock formations otherwise impermeable to the flow of gas;
Whereas, North Carolina does not currently allow either horizontal drilling or hydraulic fracturing, and the current North Carolina study of in-state shale gas resources and of the potential impacts of reversing this ban and allowing drilling and fracking to extract these resources is being undertaken without adequate funding and without adequate time;
Now Therefore Be It Resolved, that we, the members of the Town of Pittsboro Board of Commissioners, urge the North Carolina General Assembly to maintain current laws in North Carolina that prevent hydraulic fracturing and horizontal drilling in the State and to take no action that would weaken these laws before it is fully demonstrated that North Carolina public health, waters, land, air, economy, and quality of life can be fully protected from impacts of allowing shale gas development in the state.