3 North Carolina Republican senators file bill that would make it a felony to disclose fracking chemicals

As North Carolina prepares for a potential oil and gas boom, the state Legislature may consider a bill that "would make it a Class I felony to disclose trade secrets related to hydraulic fracturing." Violators would be subject to criminal penalties and civil damages, including up to a few months of prison time, Mike Lee reports for EnergyWire. The bill also would keep communities from passing ordinances to control drilling and fracking. (North Carolina Geological Survey map: Possible fracking areas)

"It's the latest twist in North Carolina's quest to write rules allowing drilling and fracking for natural gas," Lee writes. "The state has a potential shale field called the Deep River formation, but it passed a moratorium on development until it can establish regulations to control the industry."

The bill "would put the state geologist in charge of maintaining the chemical information and would allow the state's emergency management office to use it for planning. It also would allow the state to turn over the information immediately to medical providers and fire chiefs," Lee writes. "However, the medical providers and fire chiefs could be required to sign confidentiality agreements after they receive the information." (Read more)

The bill, introduced by three Republican senators, would mostly affect Lee, Moore and Chatham counties, "where potentially lucrative deposits of gas and other minerals are trapped in layers of shale," Andrew Barksdale reports for The Fayetteville Observer. The bill would give the state Mining and Energy Commission until Jan. 1 to finish drafting rules, allow state regulators "to deny permits to drilling companies with shoddy records" and bolster "the state's ability to monitor the toxins that companies mix with fracking fluids pumped into wells." (Read more)