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1 Orange County Commission for the Environment Meeting Summary December 8, 2014 Orange County Solid Waste Administration Building, Chapel Hill _______________________________________________________________________________________________________ PRESENT: Jan Sassaman (Chair), May Becker, Peter Cada, Loren Hintz, Donna Lee Jones, David Neal, Steve Niezgoda, Bill Newby, Jeanette O’Connor, Gary Saunders, Sheila Thomas- Ambat, Lydia Wegman, and David Welch ABSENT: Rebecca Ray STAFF: Rich Shaw, Tom Davis, Brennan Bouma GUEST: Thomas Eisenhart _______________________________________________________________________________________________________ I. Call to Order – Sassaman called the meeting to order at 7:35 pm. II. Ad ditions or Changes to Agenda – There were none. III. Minutes – Sassaman asked for a motion on the November 10 meeting summary. Hintz motioned to approve as written; seconded by Wegman. Approved unanimously. IV. Introduction of New CFE Member and Staff – Sassaman welcomed new CFE member Sheila Thomas-Ambat, and Brennan Bouma, Orange County’s new Sustainability Coordinator. Sassaman asked both to introduce themselves and to describe some of their background and interests, which they did. CFE members introduced themselves. V. 2015 Meeting Calendar – The CFE approved its meeting calendar for 2015. VI. Potential action items from CFE/BOCC dinner meeting – Sassaman asked CFE members to review the list of subjects that were raised and discussed during the October 14 dinner meeting with the board of county commissioners (BOCC). He referred members to Attachments 5 and 6 in the meeting materials. Niezgoda observed that the BOCC seemed receptive and interested in the recommendations put forward by the CFE. Other members agreed. Wegman noted Commissioner Gordon’s recommendation that the CFE help educate the public on the pros and cons of hydraulic fracturing, or “fracking.” Becker noted the CFE and BOCC adopted resolutions concerning fracking in 2012. Davis noted the CFE summarized the fracking issues in its State of the Environment report. Sassaman suggested the CFE use new modes of communication to help educate citizens about this and other issues in the SOE report, such as an electronic newsletter and news articles. He recommended sending this issue to the Water Resources Committee for consideration. Hintz said this is not a high-priority issue for the CFE and Orange County. Wegman noted Commissioner Dorosin’s interest in the CFE re-examining environmental issues from a social justice viewpoint, including his example of overlaying groundwater contamination maps with basic census data.