NC General Assembly Overrides Perdue Veto on Fracking

NC Fracking Bill Senate Bill 820


NC Shale Gas Potential


NC Fracking Counties & Zip Codes

Bev Perdue

North Carolina Republican lawmakers on Monday overrode Democratic Governor Bev Perdue's veto of a bill that would authorize hydraulic fracturing, known as fracking, to get at natural gas deposits.


The gas-drilling process will be authorized in North Carolina after the House voted late Monday night 72-47 in favor of overriding her veto. The margin Republican-controlled Senate was just enough to meet the 60-percent majority required for overrides. Senators voted 29-13 earlier in the day.


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Perdue issued the veto Sunday, saying she objected to the bill based on environmental and other concerns.

The measure directs a state panel and other agencies to develop rules and regulations for the process to drill and collect the natural gas by October 2014. The legislature would have to sign off at a later date before actual permits could be issued.

The greatest potential for fracking in North Carolina appears to be with shale deposits in the Piedmont, including Stokes County, and the Sandhills. There were protests against the bill in Stokes and Rockingham counties.  (Winston-Salem Journal, 7/3/2012)