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1 <br /> ORANGE COUNTY <br /> BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS <br /> ACTION AGENDA ITEM ABSTRACT <br /> Meeting Date: April 17, 2012 <br /> Action Agenda <br /> Item No. 4 -c <br /> SUBJECT: Draft Resolution Regarding Hydraulic Fracturing in North Carolina <br /> DEPARTMENT: Environment, Agriculture, PUBLIC HEARING: (Y/N) No <br /> Parks and Recreation <br /> (DEAPR) <br /> ATTACHMENTS: IINFORMATION CONTACTS: <br /> 1. Map of Triassic Basins in NC David Stancil, 245-2510 <br /> 2. NC Geological Survey publication Thomas Davis, 245-2513 <br /> 3. Draft Resolution Regarding Shale Rich Shaw, 245-2514 <br /> Gas Development in North Carolina <br /> PURPOSE: To consider a draft resolution regarding the potential extraction of shale gas <br /> resources in North Carolina. <br /> BACKGROUND: Recent developments in technology have greatly increased the interest in the <br /> drilling and extraction of formerly unrecoverable deposits of natural gas. Horizontal drilling and <br /> hydraulic fracturing ("fracking") are now routinely used to extract natural gas from geologic <br /> deposits that have not traditionally been utilized for the recovery of oil and natural gas. In North <br /> Carolina, there has been a substantial increase in interest in the organic rich deposits located in <br /> the Deep River Basin and the Dan River Basin (known as Triassic Basins) shown on <br /> Attachment 1. A small portion of Orange County is located in the Deep River Basin. <br /> The Cumnock Formation, an organic rich shale unit located in the Sanford Sub-Basin of the <br /> Deep River Basin, is a deposit that is known to contain natural gas, possibly in sufficient <br /> quantity to be of interest to companies that could utilize fracking and horizontal drilling to <br /> recover this gas. Attachment 2 is a publication of the NC Geological Survey discussing the <br /> shale gas potential of the Deep River Basin in Chatham and Lee counties. This publication <br /> provides more details concerning the potential gas resources of the Cumnock Formation in the <br /> Sanford sub-basin. At this time, little data appears to exist concerning the extent of the <br /> Cumnock Formation, or its equivalent, in the Durham sub-basin, which extends into Orange and <br /> Durham counties. <br /> The NC Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) recently released a draft <br /> report concerning possible oil and gas development in North Carolina. This report detailed the <br /> near complete lack of petroleum exploration and development activities in North Carolina to <br /> date, and as a result, the current lack of state-level regulations that would apply to many of the <br /> activities used in the recovery of natural gas by fracking and horizontal drilling, both of which are <br /> currently illegal in North Carolina. It is expected that the NC General Assembly will begin to <br /> discuss oil shale development during the upcoming 2012 session. The draft DENR report <br />