The boom of shale gas extraction in the US and elsewhere has prompted Duke University to organize a two day conference on the topic. Organizers say the controversial process of gas extraction called fracking will be one of the main focuses of the gathering. Rob Jackson is a professor of environmental sciences at Duke and one of the event's organizers. He says his department is ready to monitor water supplies if fracking is allowed to take place in this state.
Rob Jackson: We have some new money, a grant, to do baseline testing here in North Carolina if the legislature legalizes horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing. So we'll be in contact with homeowners in Lee and Chatham and Moore counties trying to establish that baseline and doing water sampling in their homes.
Jackson says the public is welcome to attend today's session which will also include people from several federal and state government agencies and energy companies.