Oh, and if you loved the open, unlined coal ash pits, then you'll be over the moon about more open, unlined pits! These will contain the waste water from fracking. Whatever happened to "it gets reinjected into the well, so there is little to no actual pollution." What could possibly go wrong???

5/30/2014 8:16:37 AM

The solution to pollution is to hide it from outsiders!

5/30/2014 8:59:53 AM

Something else that will likely be permitted (sadly) is flaring (which makes no fucking sense if the whole point was to drill for methane in the first place). I hope that rural communities love the constant orange glare! Now, I have yet to see any indication that flaring will occur, but just looking at what is permitted in this abomination as well as what is going on in N. Dakota, it seems like an unfortunate logical extension.

5/30/2014 9:16:00 AM

The only recourse will be direct action (non-violent) on the ground once they try to start drilling:
http://wagingnonviolence.org/experiments/local-protesters-killing-big-oil-mining-projects-worldwide/

[Edited on May 30, 2014 at 9:20 AM. Reason : . ]

5/30/2014 9:20:08 AM

It can still make it to surface waters even if they injected it, fractures in the formation they would target are very shallow. I think coal used to be mined literally at the surface from the banks of the Deep River.

5/30/2014 9:28:36 AM

http://www.wral.com/house-oks-fast-track-fracking-bill/13685689/

Quote :

"House Democrats tried to amend the legislation 10 times Thursday, but none succeeded. Republican leaders used a parliamentary maneuver to derail four proposals. Those amendments would have banned the disposal of toxic wastewater from drilling in open pits, required landowner permission to disturb surface land, allowed cities more power in setting rules for drilling and reinstated a 2012 requirement for lawmakers to vote to approve state regulations before any drilling could begin. The parliamentary maneuver, known as tabling, allows amendments to be killed without a recorded vote on the topic of the amendment. Rep. Becky Carney, D-Mecklenburg, was angry that her amendment to reinstate the final vote on regulations was not debated. She said legislators of both parties made that commitment when they lifted the ban on drilling in 2012. "We broke a promise, and you get to go home and say that," Carney said. North Carolina Legislature Building (4x3) How NC House voted on drilling bill Ed Harris, whose Lee County land sits atop a shale deposit that could be drilled, said he is upset with lawmakers for their headlong rush to open the state to gas exploration. "They don't even have the rules in place they're going to use, but they're going ahead and passing (the bill)," said Harris, 66, whose family has lived in Lee County since the 1880s."

5/30/2014 11:21:17 AM

http://www.wral.com/fact-check-does-this-year-s-fracking-break-a-promise-/13694945/

Quote :

"The call: To make a call here, we're not weighing in on the virtues of gas drilling, whether the bill is a good one or the state is pursuing a sound policy. The only thing we're weighing in on is whether the General Assembly promised to do one thing and then did another. That appears to be the case. While you can make the case that lawmakers could bring up a rule disapproval bill in 2015, there's no guarantee that measure will be heard. That's a far cry from the requirement that lawmakers affirmatively act to lift the fracking ban. Carney and Woodard are safe from our red light. Instead, we'll award a U-Turn on our fact checking scale to the entire legislature, or at least those who voted both for the 2012 and 2014 fracking bills. A U-turn rating does not dispute the veracity or soundness of a claim but rather that a statement or action "represents a change in position for the individual in question" – a "flip-flop" if you will."

[Edited on June 3, 2014 at 1:30 PM. Reason : ]

6/3/2014 1:29:39 PM

The best thing about fracking in NC is there is very little actual gas here and it will all be over quickly.

6/3/2014 1:49:47 PM

Bill was officially singed by McCrory today

http://www.wral.com/mccrory-signs-gas-drilling-bill/13700787/

From what I understand (and correct me if I'm wrong), but national forests are not completely off limits to this type of stuff are they?

[Edited on June 4, 2014 at 1:49 PM. Reason : forests, not parks]

6/4/2014 1:45:10 PM

I think our three main national forests aren't in any major discovery areas, thank God. Pisgah, Great Smoky Mtns, and Uwharries - although the Uwharries are close.

If they touch them, I may have to *gasp* join in on the moral Monday protesters.

6/4/2014 2:24:56 PM

^This was an article in the Asheville paper 2 days ago:

Quote :

"The mountain counties where the samples will be collected are Clay, Cherokee, Macon, Graham, Swain, Jackson and Haywood."

http://www.citizen-times.com/story/news/local/2014/06/01/state-test-natural-gas-deposits-wnc/9852149/

Portions of Jackson & Haywood are part of Pisgah NF, I believe. Nantahala NF is also in NC, which covers a few of the other counties.

6/4/2014 2:37:22 PM

Quote :

"The best thing about fracking in NC is there is very little actual gas here and it will all be over quickly."

this is pretty true.

6/4/2014 5:46:02 PM

You can also frack for oil and other gasses, but we probably don't have much of those either.

6/4/2014 5:49:09 PM

correct.

i think the politicians see the boom in north dakota and think that type of thing can happen anywhere... well if we don't have the geology we don't have the resources to tap. (not to say we don't have any... some energy companies could come in and make a tidy profit and leave happy)

[Edited on June 4, 2014 at 6:21 PM. Reason : ]

6/4/2014 6:20:03 PM

Unless you are Dr. Sheldon Cooper, geology is a science. It is a science that is predicated on the earth taking a long time to get to its current arrangement (eg longer than 6,000 years). The NCGA doesn't believe in science, ergo we're fucked.

6/4/2014 10:30:15 PM

^^^^^^forgot the Croatan NF on the coast, which is about three times larger than Uwharrie NF. I don't think the Croatan is in immediate danger of fracking debates.

[Edited on June 4, 2014 at 10:39 PM. Reason : .]

6/4/2014 10:38:27 PM

http://www.newsobserver.com/2014/06/03/3909131/mccrory-plans-to-sign-fracking.html

Quote :

"State-sponsored drilling is expected to get underway this fall in Eastern North Carolina "

I don't even know where to begin with this...

6/5/2014 12:09:59 AM

^ I retract my debate comment for the Croatan

6/5/2014 12:56:41 AM

Funny too how the right bends over for the oil and gas industry, but looks for every opportunity to tax and bash clean energy and electric vehicles .

6/5/2014 7:38:41 PM

Any doubts that approval for this will be rammed through?

http://www.wral.com/proposed-gas-pipeline-worries-triangle-residents/13705846/

6/5/2014 10:29:44 PM

http://smokymountainnews.com/news/item/14290-tribe-bans-fracking

Quote :

"The Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians has joined a growing number of local governments opposing the state legislature’s decision to allow hydraulic fracturing, called fracking, in North Carolina. Earlier this month, tribal council passed a resolution outlawing the practice on tribal lands, a force of authority stronger than what county and municipal governments possess."

Quote :

"Governments in Western North Carolina that have passed anti-fracking resolutions include Swain County, Haywood County, Franklin, Forest Hills, Sylva, Webster and Bryson City."

9/26/2014 8:50:25 AM