RALEIGH, N.C., Aug. 25 (UPI) -- A grassroots group in North Carolina said it plans to hold rallies Monday to protest hydraulic fracturing legislation pending in the state's government.
Advocacy group Frack Free N.C. said a public meeting Monday before the state Mining and Energy Commission is a "critical opportunity" to weigh in on draft legislation covering hydraulic fracturing, the controversial drilling practice dubbed fracking.
Gov. Pat McCrory in June signed the so-called Energy Modernization Act, a bill the grassroots group said could result in $1 million in fracking contracts in the state by lifting a fracking moratorium.
"Rather than tamping down resistance to hydraulic fracturing, the state's newest legislation on fracking Senate Bill 786, dubbed the Energy Modernization Act, has only strengthened it and increased the controversy across the state," the advocacy group said.
Fracking critics say some of the chemicals used in the process are a threat to groundwater supplies. The process, however, has resulted in a substantial increase in oil and natural gas production in the country.
Fracking permits in North Carolina could be handed out early next year if the bill passes. A 2012 study from the U.S. Geological Survey estimates North Carolina may hold more than 775 billion cubic feet of natural gas in the Deep River Basin.
