Pro-Fracking Legislators In North Carolina Raked In $600,000+ From Energy Companies, Lobbyists

[hatrack]

Companies in energy and related industries donated nearly $600,000 to the campaigns of North Carolina legislators who are interested in green-lighting a new and controversial method of extracting natural gas, according to an advocacy group that tracks campaign spending.

The group, North Carolina Voters for Clean Elections, counted donations totaling $209,000 to state senators and $300,000 to representatives who voted for the 2011 Energy Jobs Act, which authorized studies of hydraulic fracturing. Also known as “fracking,” the technique shoots a mixture of water and chemical solvents into underground rock, where it releases methane, propane and other fossil fuels. In North Carolina, such gas deposits are concentrated in an underground ribbon that runs from near Laurinburg, up along the western edge of Wake County, through Durham and then northward.

Fracking in Pennsylvania and other Appalachian states has been credited with driving down prices of those fuels nationwide, but environmentalists and some neighbors have also said the technique degrades water quality.

NCVCE’s analysis included donations made during the years 2009, 2010 and 2011. It included donations to House Speaker Thom Tillis (R-Mecklenburg) and Senate President Pro Tempore Phil Berger (R-Rockingham) even though, for procedural reasons, they did not vote on the bill.

EDIT

http://www.bizjournals.com/triangle/news/2012/05/25/nc-legislators-bagged-600k-plus-in.html

[DURHAM D]

1. Thank god the governor vetoed it. But it will be back. nt