Rockingham Joins Counties Considering Fracking Bans

The Rockingham County Board of Commissioners is looking into a moratorium on fracking.  A public hearing on the issue will take place at Monday's meeting in Wentworth.

The proposed moratorium would ban the practice for two years. Commissioners say that will give them enough time to study the issue.

It would also give the county more time to look at future regulations. The move is in response to new legislation passed by the General Assembly that limits local government efforts to delay or prevent fracking.

Ira Tilley of Reidsville is with Good Stewards of Rockingham, which supports the moratorium. He says politicians in Raleigh have gone too far.

“They're trying to literally take the rights away of local counties away and limit what can go on in their county on behalf of their people,” says Tilley. “We are in perilous times here. It's unprecedented.”

Others are concerned about the potential impact of fracking on the county's rivers, because they say there's minimal separation between the ground water supplies and the shale formation.

If Rockingham County Commissioners approve the measure, it will join a handful of other counties who have passed similar delays this year.

*Follow Keri Brown on Twitter @kerb_news