NORWICH – Free public informational forums sponsored by Chenango Community Action For Renewable Energy (C-CARE) continue to feature concerns related to natural gas drilling in the Marcellus shale beneath much of this area and neighboring Pennsylvania. The seventh forum will be held at 7 p.m. on Thursday at the United Church of Christ, 11 W. Main, Norwich giving additional advise to property owners, current lease holders and their neighbors about issues that have come up such as terminating a lease, force majeure and compulsory integration.

The forum presenters are Ellen Harrison, geologist and environmental scientist from Ithaca; founder of “Fleased,” an organization providing voice to landowners, and Attorney Joseph Heath, General Council for the Onondaga Nation, whose work has centered on environmental protection under the Clean Water Act and land rights. At the forum Heath will share his lease termination workshop; and both speakers offer much experience from which to respond to questions at the end.

C-CARE seeks to explore with and for the public and local officials the potential negative outcomes of hydraulic fracturing in shales to obtain natural gas by organizing this monthly community speakers series, not to obstruct so much as to offer a balance to the gas industry’s rush to proceed.

The public is asked to park on the street, in the Hayes Street or county office building parking lots and not in the church lot in back. For more information, call Chris at 334-6095 or e-mail Ken at ccare@frontier.com.