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