I am concerned for the future of North Carolina, as the N.C. Mining and Energy Commission finalized its rules and regulations for the oil and gas industry last Friday. The proposed rules and regulations are not enough to protect our state. Fracking should be kept out of North Carolina entirely! The General Assembly could be presented with these rules as early as January, and for our health and clean drinking water, they should reject them.

More than 217,000 public comments were submitted to the MEC on these rules, with most of them opposing fracking. Gov. Pat McCrory needs to listen to North Carolina citizens and ban fracking. As a student, I am concerned that opening up our state to fracking is an unnecessary risk to our waterways, and it’s my generation who will be left to clean it up. I urge all of my fellow North Carolinians who care about clean water to get involved in this fight! Go to www.environmentnorthcarolina.org to see how easy it is to get involved in the fight to ban fracking in North Carolina.

Lara White

junior studying political science