A public forum on the effects of Marcellus Shale gas drilling on local water sources will be held Monday, June 22 at the Bath Fire Hall, 50 East Morris St., in Bath from 7:00 to 9:00 pm. The forum is for community members, landowners and local government officials, and is sponsored by the Steuben County Environmental Management Council, the Finger Lakes Group of the Sierra Club, the League of Women Voters of Steuben County, the League of Women Voters of Chemung County and the Bath Peace and Justice Group.

The speakers at the forum will be Steve Penningroth, executive director of the state-certified water testing laboratory at the Community Science Institute in Ithaca, Ron Bishop, lecturer in chemistry and biochemistry at SUNY Oneonta, and Andrew Byers, a farmer/botanist from Newfield who has been studying gas drilling issues.

Ron Bishop will give an overview of natural gas extraction technology and explain how water contamination can occur during the gas drilling process. Steve Penningroth will describe how to test private and municipal water wells so that landowners and municipal officials can discover problems and have solid scientific baseline water data that will stand up in court should contamination occur. Andrew Byers will describe how community members who are knowledgeable about these issues can take action.

The forum is free and open to the public. For more information, call 607-569-2114.