oil and gas drilling

July 2, 2013 - The N.C. commission charged with regulating fracking is protesting state lawmakers' effort to preempt its authority to require strong public disclosure rules for chemicals used in fracking for natural gas. Will North Carolina join other Southern states in adopting weak disclosure requirements?

January 11, 2013 - The Koch brother from another mother overseeing the state budget. A man found guilty of assaulting children running the Department of Public Safety. A science skeptic chosen to protect the environment. What is Gov. Pat McCrory thinking?

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.

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.

September 28, 2012 - The U.S. Geological Survey verifies earlier EPA findings that fracking for natural gas contaminated groundwater in rural Wyoming.

September 24, 2012 - As the boom in oil and gas drilling sends a surge of waste into underground injection wells, safeguards for disposing of these materials are sometimes being ignored or circumvented.