"Local ordinances prohibiting oil and gas exploration and development activities invalid; petition to preempt local ordinance."
Thanks to Jeff Sykes for sending along this PDF of proposed fracking legislation for North Carolina, which seems to remove all local control over drilling decisions.
You didn't think they were going to stop at billboard ordinances and internet access, did you?
http://ncoilandgas.com/meet-the-founders/
Ray Covington worked in the development office of UNCG until about 2005.
He is from a long standing Lee County (Sanford) family. I hope he doesn't leave a big stain down there......
Posted by: Collards | May 22, 2012 at 02:27 PM
What this state needs are billboards, with no tree within a mile or so, telling us about the wonders of tracking and all the good things it will do for us…errr, our betters downtown. Why would our mayors and such want to mess with that?
Does anyone seriously think fracking is going to reduce the price of any kind of energy in NC? What it's going to do is help a very few very big companies scrape together a bit of profit exploiting a disappearing resource. They gain. We all tread water for a few more years.
Posted by: justcorbly | May 22, 2012 at 03:39 PM
Is this the start of a Texas Railroad Commission in NC for all state residents or just a tool for enrichment of a few ?
The Railroad Commission of Texas (RRC) is the state agency that regulates the oil and gas industry, gas utilities, pipeline safety, safety in the liquefied petroleum gas industry, and surface coal and uranium mining. Despite its name, it no longer regulates railroads.
Posted by: RBM | May 22, 2012 at 07:08 PM
JC, to be fair, fracking will create some jobs. They might even be good-paying jobs. I'm not saying that justifies the risk of groundwater pollution, and you're quite right about the absence of any noticeable effect on local energy prices, but the fracking issue goes beyond corporate profits and I can see why a state with the 4th-highest unemployment rate in the country would consider it.
Posted by: Andrew Brod | May 22, 2012 at 09:39 PM
"I'm not saying that justifies the risk of groundwater pollution....."
Yes, we must not let common sense interfere with the hysteria.
Posted by: bubba | May 22, 2012 at 10:04 PM
Yes, all this talk about weighing risks is the dictionary definition of hysteria.
Assessing the tension between state and local control? Also hysteria.
Posted by: Andrew Brod | May 22, 2012 at 10:16 PM
Over estimating the impact of fracking on the state's economy also turns out to be hysteria.
Posted by: Account Deleted | May 22, 2012 at 10:21 PM