The Jackson County Board will discuss hydraulic fracturing and tourism when it meets tonight at 6 p.m. in the Jackson County Courthouse.

As of a July 24 meeting, the county board’s land use and economic development committee said the board will consider four fracking options: to ban the process, to allow it with no regulation, to support a moratorium on the process, or to seek Attorney General Lisa Madigan’s opinion on the county’s ability to enact fracking legislation other than through zoning, which the county does not have.

In an e-mail, Southern Illinoisans Against Fracturing our Environment stated it’s received more than 500 signatures asking for an outright ban on the process in Illinois.

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Past county board meetings on the gas extraction process have proven to be controversial and a state bill proposed to regulate fracking is still in committee in Springfield.

The board is also set to determine whether it will end its contract with the company managing the Rehab and Care Center of Jackson County.