Extension office to host informational fracking meetings
</element><element id="paragraph-1" type="body"><![CDATA[The University of Illinois Extension office is holding three informational meetings in the area this week to help educate the public about fracking, including a Wednesday morning meeting at Southeastern Illinois College.
The meeting is free to the public and will be held from 9:30 a.m. until noon in the lobby of the George T. Dennis Visual and Performing Arts Center at SIC. A meeting will also be held at John A. Logan College in Carterville Wednesday evening and at the Gambit Event Center Thursday morning in Vienna.
Though the event is free, organizers would prefer those planning to attend one of the meetings to call their local U of I Extension office to register for the event. Anyone interested in attending the SIC event should call the local office at (618) 252-8391.
Connie Beck, U of I Extension County Director for the area, said the main reason they are holding the meetings is to provide unbiased information for their clients.
"We're not for or against fracking," she said. "Our role is to provide information so people can make informed decisions."
Several speakers from Ohio will be presenting at the meeting and providing their first-hand knowledge and experiences of how fracking impacts a community.
Beck said there are still many unanswered questions out there about how fracking could affect Southern Illinois, but she hopes the meetings will give people a chance to have some of their questions answered.
"There are certainly going to be long-term impacts on the local economy and the environment," Beck said.