Binker drills into fracking issue

Submitted by scharrison on Sun, 01/16/2011 - 2:04pm

And gets some substantial results:

Gillespie said the thought of a new source of natural gas may be tantalizing at a time when the state is trying to move toward cleaner-burning, home-grown fuels. However, he cautioned, potential water-and air-contamination issues that come along with drilling should give everyone pause.

Yes, it should. And when industry "experts" submit their reports on how "clean and sustainable" their operations are, the source of that information should give you pause as well.

The General Assembly’s Environmental Review Commission, a group of lawmakers that helps oversee environmental policy, is due to hear about the state’s natural gas deposits and potential for exploration on Tuesday.

The hearing will be at 10:00 a.m. in room 544 of the Legislative Office Building. I'm not sure if it will be open to the public, but I'll try to get a "yay" or "nay" on that.

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A little follow-up

Submitted by scharrison on Sun, 01/16/2011 - 6:25pm.

on Mark's list of lease-buyers:

Jordan Treakle of the Rural Advancement Foundation International has been doing research on deeds in county courthouses. He found the following companies buying mineral rights leases:

Tar Heel Natural Gas (link) is one of the companies looking for natural gas and buying up mineral leases.

North Carolina Oil and Gas (link) is another company in the that Treakle identifies as buying leases. However, the company's website identifies itself as being involved in representing landowners rights in these transactions.

WhitMar Exploration (link) is another company in the field and buying up leases.

I don't have a link for Old North State Energy Company or Magnum Land Services, but they're also buying up leases.

Here's part of the Mission Statement from Tar Heel Natural Gas:

Tar Heel Natural Gas, LLC was founded in an effort to explore for clean “home grown” energy, right in North Carolina. Responsible exploration for natural gas is the principle reason we have assembled an experienced team of explorationists who are also businessmen.

That "we have assembled" might just lead you to believe this is a "home grown" North Carolina company who reached out for help elsewhere. But check out this Mission Statement from Merlin Oil & Gas of Louisiana, paying particular attention to the website design.

;)

Nice try, but it takes more than using the words "Tar Heel" to pull the wool over our eyes.