A public health expert from Pennsylvania will make a presentation in Chapel Hill tomorrow about his research and findings on the public health consequences of fracking for natural gas.

Trevor Penning, who studies how certain kinds of hydrocarbons cause cancer in humans, will speak at 1:30 p.m. Wednesday in the Rosenau Auditorium. Penning is the director of the Center of Excellence in Environmental Toxicology at the University of Pennsylvania.

The presentation is free to the public and sponsored by UNC-Chapel Hill's Center for Environmental Health and Susceptibility.

Penning recently made a presentation on the same topic at Harvard School of Public Health in Boston. He condludes that despite years of complaints, reported illnesses and other anecdotal information, there is a lack of research on the of the consequences of fracking on public health.

Penning's presentation is an overview of the potential health hazards that are suspected but not proven. That includes a focus on heavy industrial activity, which generates diesel fumes, ground-level ozone and other emissions that can exacerbate asthma and other conditions.

We've devoted so much space to the Amendment One debate over the past month that many letters on other topics got overrun. Here are more than a dozen.

The N.C. Attorney General today issued a lengthy list of warnings and recommendations designed to protect the public from being exploited by the fracking industry.

The AG is urging the state legislature to approve the proposed safeguards if lawmakers proceed with legalizing fracking in this state, as some are vowing to do.

The provisions are intended to protect the public from high-pressure sales tactics, adverse financial impacts, property damage and other risks the public is typically exposed to but unaware of.

Or think of it as the Surgeon General's warning label for fracking: "There are risks to neighbors, communities and the State itself," the AG's report declares.

The state Attorney General's office estimates that around 400 to 500 homes have been sold in North Carolina in recent years stripped of legal rights to drill and frack for natural gas under the properties.

The homebuilder, D.R. Horton, this week notified state officials it would return those rights to any homeowner who requests it. The company did an about-face amid a public outcry and twin state reviews of its practice. Many of the affected homes were sold throughout the Triangle.

D.R. Horton's policies of systematically stripping drilling rights is under review by the state AG's Consumer Protection Division and by the N.C. Real Estate Commission. Both agencies are now tracking the builder's offer to return mineral rights to customers who make the request.

At this point it remains unclear how long the offer to return mineral rights will be available and how many D.R. Horton customers are aware of it.

A landowner rights advocacy group is offering an educational session on property leases related to fracking tonight in Durham. Fracking, currently illegal in this state, refers to hydraulic fracturing shale rock to extract natural gas trapped underground.

Tonight's session scheduled by the Rural Advancement Foundation International is one of many such presentations in the past year offered by RAFI as well as by local cooperate extension services.

The advocates always advise property owners to consult with lawyers and negotiate favorable terms before signing away their drilling rights. "Gas leases are usually written to benefit the company, not the landowner," RAFI's web site warns.

RAFI typically advises landowners to ask for better lease fees and to include provisions that protect property owners from any liability arising from drilling and fracking. They also advise owners from certifying they own the drilling rights under their homes because property records could be mistaken.

Tonight's meeting will be held at the Durham County Cooperative Extension Office, 721 Foster Street, from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m.

Investor, financier and hedge fund manager T. Boone Pickens is giving a Texas-sized cheer to North Carolina for the Old North State's emerging energy policies.

Pickens, who chairs BP Capital Management, has issued an enthusiastic blurb in support of a package of three energy bills that would legalize fracking in this state and urge drilling off the coast of the Atlantic Ocean. The bills were passed Wednesday by a state Senate committee on energy policy and will be introduced before the General Assembly in May.

To be precise, Pickens lauded one provision in the sweeping legislative package that would reshape the state's political landscape with new boards, taks forces and a smorgasbord of requirements. What Pickens liked is the proposed "aggressive move to move the state's school buses off OPEC oil/diesel/gasoline and onto domestic natural gas."

Claim: "(Fracking) would only bring to the state at most about 100 jobs."

Speaker: Bill Faison at Democratic gubernatorial debate Monday

The town of Cary may tonight ask that state legislators leave local governments some power over oil and gas drilling. A Cary Town Council resolution would urge legislators to allow towns and cities to decide what local land is appropriate for fracking, the controversial method of natural gas extraction that the state may soon legalize.

Currently, the rules governing fracking are unclear because the practice is illegal in this state. But if the North Carolina General Assembly un-bans hydraulic fracturing this summer, drillers could pump highly pressurized water and chemicals to break up prehistoric shale rock formations that hold natural gas far underground.

Cary's proposal would not attempt to grant the town new powers or cement any policy in place; instead, it asks the General Assembly to "preserve local governments'" power to designate certain areas as appropriate or inappropriate for drilling. The resolution acknowledges the economic windfalls fracking might bring, but urges a "thoughtful and deliberative" approach to potential pitfalls.

It's unclear yet whether Cary will be a lucrative spot for the practice. West Cary is part of a large basin which may contain gas reserves, and the practice may influence Cary one way or another, but no potential drilling areas "have yet been identified in this area," according to a recent town report.

Shale gas is most strongly believed to exist beneath a 1,400-square-mile area centered around Lee, Moore and Chatham counties, and possibly including western Wake County.

Advocates of fracking say it will supply bountiful amounts of a relatively clean fuel to offset dirty coal and oil imported from hostile regimes. Critics say it can contaminate water, and cause earth tremors and other environmental and public health problems.

With new doors potentially opening for the gas industry, Cary and other cities are jockeying for local influence over the new industry. And early signs at the state level show legalization is a real possibility: A draft report by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, issued this month, stated that fracking can be done safely so long as protections are in place.

In other states, numerous local governments have made firmer attempts to regulate or restrict fracking, sometimes resulting in litigation by energy companies. In Cary, the Shale Gas Development Task Force, a board of residents and staffers who helped craft tonight's resolution, will continue to investigate the practice.

The Durham County Board of Commissioners will not discuss the so-called “fracking” issue at tonight’s meeting as earlier indicated.

Fracking refers to hydraulic fracturing, a technology used in conjunction with horizontal drilling to tap into underground natural gas deposits trapped in shale rock formations. North Carolina is believed to have about 40 years of shale gas around Lee, Chatham, Moore and other central counties.

The commissioners are awaiting a full report from their appointed Environmental Affairs Board that has not yet been completed, Durham County officials announced this morning. That report is expected in another few weeks.

So far most of the discussion about "fracking" has been limited to Lee, Moore, and Chatham counties. But legislation pending in the General Assembly does not restrict drilling to a designated "fracking zone," Progress NC reports on its website. A map from the N.C. Department of Natural Resources shows potential for natural gas deposits all over the Triangle and Piedmont area of North Carolina. Two-thirds of Durham County and even Jordan Lake, a major source of drinking water, appears to be in the fracking zone, Progress NC says.

For more information on the Durham commissioners’ agenda this evening at 7 p.m., visit the Durham County website at www.durhamcountync.gov.

The People's Alliance, one of Durham's three major political-action groups, has taken a stand against fracking.

In a resolution released Friday, the PA calls on the General Assembly to take no action on legalizing the process "at least until" the federal Environmental Protection Agency finishes research on hydraulic fracking's effects on "the full water life cycle" is finished "and then, only if new regulations, agency funding and enforcement policies and procedures fully protect our waters, land, people, and local economies."

The resolution also asks that the Durham City Council and Board of County Commissioners take similar positions.