The UNC Institute for the Environment will host a public talk by Larry Murdoch entitled “To Frac or not to Frac: Risks and Rewards of Natural Gas Production from Shale,†at 5 p.m. on Tuesday in the Tate Turner Kuralt Auditorium in the UNC School of Social Work at 325 Pittsboro St.
Hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, is a technique used to release natural gas from deep deposits in shale. Murdoch, professor of environmental engineering and earth sciences at Clemson University, will address topics ranging from the economic benefits of fracking and concerns about environmental risks to the geology of gas deposits and the technology used in hydraulic fracturing.
The event is free and open to the public.
It might be useful to note the speaker’s close personal tie’s to the fracking industry. He owns a company called FRx that, in addition to doing cleanup on fracking sites, also is contracted out to do hydrolic fracturing. From their website: “FRx personnel pioneered the use of hydraulic fracturing for the enhancement of in situ environmental remediation. Fracturing techniques were developed and refined during extensive research with the USEPA. FRx personnel conducted the nation’s first hydraulic fracturing demonstration as an innovative technology in the US EPA’s SITE program.†(Check it out for yourself: http://www.frx-inc.com/innovative.html)
Murdoch is greatly financially invested in the legalization of hydrolic fracturing in North Carolina and could not conceivable give an unbiased talk on the real, devastating consequences of fracking.