Ithaca College

Ithaca College will hold an educational forum on the highly complex and controversial issue of hydraulic fracturing (also known as "fracking") on Wednesday, November 3rd, starting at 6:30PM in the Emerson Suites in the Campus Center. Some geologists estimate that there is enough natural gas locked into dense rock deep beneath Pennsylvania and New York to meet our energy needs for many years. But freeing that natural gas requires a drilling and extraction process called hydraulic fracturing that uses large amounts of water mixed with chemicals that some fear could pollute water above and below ground and deplete aquifers. Come learn about the different perspectives and concerns involved in this issue.

This educational forum will be moderated by Crystal Sarakas from WSKG-FM, the Binghamton-area National Public Radio affiliate. Panelists will include:

• Anthony Ingraffea, Ph.D., the D.C. Baum Professor of Engineering, Cornell University
• John Holko, president of Lenape Resources, a gas drilling company, and secretary of the Independent Oil and Gas Association of New York
• Lorin Cooper, chair of the Political Action and Public Relations Committee of of the Steuben County Landowners Association, a drilling advocacy group
• Jannette Barth, Ph.D., president of J.M. Barth and Associates, an economic research and consulting firm
• Robert Howarth, Ph.D., the David R. Atkinson Professor in Ecology and Environmental Biology, Cornell University
• Helen Slottje, Esq., attorney with Community Environmental Defense Counsel, Inc.
• Barbara Lifton, New York State Assembly member, 125th District (including Ithaca)

The forum will be followed by a Question & Answer session with the panelists.

This event is free and open to the public. Individuals with disabilities requiring accommodations should contact Marian Brown, Sustainability at Ithaca program, at mbrown@ithaca.edu or by phone at 607-274-3787. We ask that requests for accommodations be made as soon as possible.

This educational forum event is sponsored by the School of Business, the Sustainability at Ithaca program, and the "Commit to Change" program, with additional support from the School of Humanities and Sciences, the Roy H. Park School of Communications, and the departments of Biology, Economics, Environmental Studies and Sciences, Health Promotion & Physical Education, Philosophy and Religion, Physics, Politics, Psychology, and Sociology.