Fracking panel draws crowd in Franklin
A walk through the parking lot was all that was necessary to see that a diverse crowd had gathered to hear what the group of panelists N.C. Sen. Jim Davis, R-Franklin, had assembled had to say about fracking. Cars outside the Smoky Mountain Center for the Performing Arts in Franklin sported bumper stickers promoting everything from gun rights to local foods, their owners pouring into the auditorium by the hundreds to settle into self-assigned pro- and anti-fracking seating blocks.
“I thought it was really important that people be able to have questions and have those addressed by a panel of experts,” said Davis, who co-sponsored a May 2014 bill that, among other things, lifted the state’s moratorium on hydraulic fracturing, also known as fracking. Now the public is in the midst of reviewing a set of proposed rules that would govern that development.
Davis had invited Jim Womack, sitting member and former chairman of the Mining and Energy Commission; Jeff Warren, a geologist who serves as science and energy advisor to the Senate; N.C. Sen. Andrew Brock, R-Mocksville and Therese Vick of the Blue Ridge Environmental Defense League.
The evening began with a presentation from Womack, covering the nuts and bolts of hydraulic fracturing and horizontal drilling, a brief history of its rise in the United States and the resulting energy boom and an overview of North Carolina’s progress toward opening the state for some energy development of its own. Womack’s presentation was peppered by boos and hisses from fracking opponents in the audience.
“We really don’t know, and anybody that tells you that they do is telling you a fib,” Womack said. “We really don’t know how productive these areas could be.”
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Following Womack’s presentation, Davis opened the floor for questions. Audience members wrote their queries on blank index cards and flagged down Macon County Sheriff Robert Holland, who was there toting a basket to collect the questions. Davis invited Vick to draw the cards at random and read the questions to the panelists.
“They wanted to make sure that I lived to see tomorrow,” Davis joked, indicating Holland and his deputy. “Thank you for that.”
Questions ranged from the merely informational (How large is the typical wellpad?, Where will the water be stored after use?) to the combative (If fracking is safe, why go to “such lengths” to protect companies from liability?) to the favorable (What are the biggest misrepresentations about fracking?). As the sole anti-fracking representative on the panel, Vick found herself requesting plenty of rebuttals within the discussion following each question.
Davis cut questions off around 9 p.m., three hours after the forum had started.
“We’ve covered about 10 percent of the questions,” he said, adding that he hadn’t expected to have such a large volume come in. Davis encouraged audience members to email his legislative address, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., to ask for more information about those unanswered questions.
“I am technologically disabled, but I will find a way to set up a blog,” he said. “All the citizens in North Carolina deserve to have your questions answered.”
