fracking

March 1, 2013 - A proposal to speed up the state's timetable for fracking has passed the North Carolina Senate and now moves to the state House, where the speaker has expressed concerns about the legislation.

February 20, 2013 - In his first State of the State address this week, North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory called for offshore oil and gas exploration. He proposed using some of the revenues for beach replenishment -- but offshore drilling would only worsen the state's coastal erosion problem.

January 30, 2013 - The legislative session that starts today promises to bring big changes to North Carolina as the leaders of the once-progressive state seek to slash unemployment insurance, create a more regressive tax code, impose voter ID requirements, increase private control of public schools, and enshrine right-to-work in the state constitution.

January 2, 2013 - Speaking today at the N.C. Bankers Association's 2013 Economic Forecast Forum, incoming Republican Gov. Pat McCrory said he would waste no time in joining with Virginia, South Carolina and Georgia to begin negotiating with the federal government to drill offshore for gas and oil.

December 20, 2012 - Bill Ritter, who led a revamp of Colorado's fracking regulations and is now being considered to head the U.S. Department of Energy, visited North Carolina this week to share his thoughts with the state's fracking commission. With controversy over the risky practice roiling his home state, Ritter emphasized the need for drillers to obtain what he called a "social license" to operate.

December 12, 2012 - A professor involved in a scientific conflict of interest scandal at the University of Texas has moved to a Louisiana coastal research nonprofit -- where he continues to be less than upfront about his oil and gas industry connections.

November 13, 2012 - Properties that draw their drinking water from wells lose as much as a quarter of their value when natural gas drilling takes place within a mile. The finding has important implications for North Carolina, where fracking may be coming soon to rural communities that rely on well water.