Effort to speed up fracking derailed in NC House

Published: July 26, 2013

By John Murawski — jmurawski@newsobserver.com

A last-minute legislative effort to speed up the state’s fracking timeline was derailed late Thursday after lawmakers couldn’t round up enough support for it in the House.

Throughout the day Thursday, the House kept on putting off a vote on the bill, eventually shelving the legislation when it became obvious it was too divisive. Rep. Mike Hager, a Rutherfordton Republican who shepherds energy bills in the House, said Senate Bill 127 was too controversial to push through in the waning days of the legislative session.

“We like for controversial legislation to go through the committee process,” Hager said. “I’m not going to hurry – we’ve been accused of that before.”

Some House members feared the measure reneges on a promise made in last year’s adoption of a state policy on shale gas exploration, a law written to provide maximum public protections and environmental safeguards.

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