It seems that an Auburn plant is considering processing fracking waste, a liquid byproduct produced by the natural gas industry.

Dr. Ron Bishop, professor of chemistry and biochemistry at SUNY Oneonta, will speak about the potential impact this process could have on communities downstream from the Shale Gas Waste Treatment Facility in Auburn including the Baldwinsville stretch of the Seneca River. He has been invited to give a presentation at 7 p.m. Wednesday, May 8, at the Baldwinsville Public Library, 33 East Genesee St., Baldwinsville.

“As a member of the SUNY system, I have a strong commitment to public education and I try to go where I am invited, as time and resources allow,” Bishop said. “My primary goal for attendees at this forum is that they understand and learn to apply evidence-based decision making. My focus is on ‘what is’ rather than on ‘what if?’”

Bishop, who has written and presented widely on technical and policy aspects of the petroleum industry and its regulation in New York, will be speaking on the dangers to downstream communities posed by Auburn’s plans to start accepting natural gas drilling wastewater at its wastewater treatment plant.

“Public presentations I had given on other topics in Otisco and Marcellus were judged to be really helpful by town board members and others who attended,” he said.

Residents are encouraged to attend the presentation to learn more.