Earlier this year, a new law lifted the ban on fracking, or hydraulic fracturing, in North Carolina. Legislators said fracking permits could be issued as early as this coming spring. The process, which extracts natural gas from deep within the earth, is a controversial one.
Opponents say allowing fracking here could cause air and water pollution and adversely affect vulnerable populations. Advocates say fracking could bring economic prosperity and jobs to the state.
Host Frank Stasio talks with a panel of experts about fracking:
- Vikram Rao is executive director of Research Triangle Energy Consortium and former chief technology officer at Halliburton. He chairs the state’s Mining and Energy Commission.
- Hope Taylor is executive director of Clean Water for North Carolina, a group that is part of a network of organizations opposed to fracking.
- Kathleen Gray is the director of the Environmental Resource Program and a lecturer at the Institute for the Environment at UNC-Chapel Hill.
- Ted Feitshans is an attorney and professor in Agricultural and Resource Economics at North Carolina State University.
Today's program was produced in conjunction with Leadership Triangle and recorded in front of a live audience.
